TY  - JOUR
T1  - Commentary on an article by T. Tomesen, MD, et al.: “Treatment of Displaced Intra-Articular Calcaneal Fractures with Closed Reduction and Percutaneous Screw Fixation”
AU  - Farber, Daniel C.
Y1  - 2011/05/18
N1  - 10.2106/JBJS.K.00276
JO  - The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
SP  - e58 1
EP  - 2
VL  - 93
IS  - 10
N2  - 
In any series of patients involving fracture treatment, it is important to understand the fracture population. In this report, the large majority of fractures (thirty-two of thirty-seven) occurred as a result of a fall from a height, representing a “lower-energy” mechanism of injury. This technique may not be applicable in centers that treat patients with motor-vehicle and other high-energy trauma. On the average, fractures were surgically treated eight days after injury, with a range of one to seventeen days. The timing of surgery is consistent with many expert opinions that percutaneous techniques need to be performed early, when the fracture fragments are relatively easy to manipulate because the reduction technique relies on ligamentotaxis2. The authors treated 123 calcaneal fractures during the time period of the study, but only sixty-nine fractures were treated with this technique, of which forty-seven met inclusion criteria and ten were lost to follow-up. Although the authors utilized multiple classification systems, they stated that adequately sized sustentaculum and tuberosity fragments to support screw fixation were the key criteria used in selecting this technique.

SN  - 0021-9355
M3  - doi: 10.2106/JBJS.K.00276
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.K.00276
ER  -