Surgery Timing and Postoperative Hospital Stay in Closed Ankle Fractures

Abstract

Objective:

The ankle joint is a highly complex joint. The ankle joint has multidirectional mobility for its complex role in supporting the weight of the body and fulfilling a myriad of daily functions. To determine and compare the mean hospital stay between early and late management through open reduction and internal fixation of the closed ankle fractures.

Material & Methods:

Study Design: Descriptive case series

Place: Inpatient, Outpatient and Emergency departments of the Orthopaedic Surgery.

Data Collection: After meeting the inclusion criteria 80 patients were enrolled. Open Reduction and Internal Fixation surgery used to stabilize and heal a bony fracture, in which bone pieces are repositioned and aligned after surgically exposing the bone and internally fixed with screws, plates, or K wires which prevents bones from healing abnormally. Post-operative length of hospital stay of patients presenting early and late was determined.

Results:

The mean age of the patients was 43.90±14.64 years, 58(72.50%) patients were male. The mean hospital stay of the patients was 2.67±0.87 days. In patients with late presentation the mean length of hospital stay was 3.04±0.80 days while in patients with early presentation the mean length of hospital stay was 2.36±0.82 days (p-value=<0.001).

Conclusion:

This study concluded that the late presentation to hospital is associated with longer hospital stay as compared to early presentation in management through ORIF of the closed ankle fractures.

Keywords:

Early Presentation, Late presentation, Ankle Fractures, Hospital Stay.