Clinical Outcome of Triple Arthrodesis for Posttraumatic Arthritis after Calcaneal Fractures

종골 골절후 외상성 관절염에 대한 삼중 관절 고정술의 임상적 결과

Purpose: To analyze the clinical outcome of triple arthrodesis for the posttraumatic arthritis after calcaneal fractures. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 22 posttraumatic arthritis patients who underwent a triple arthrodesis from March 1991 to May 1998. The mean duration of follow up was 74 months(range, 36-123 months). The pain, function and alignment were evaluated by the modified ankle-hindfoot scale of the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society(AOFAS) clinically and the union rate, the duration of union and the degenerative change of adjacent joints radiographically were evaluated. Results: The mean duration from injury to arthrodesis was 33 months (range, 12-132 months). The AOFAS score improved from 36.4 points(range, 14-64) preoperatively to 67.6(range, 25-90) postoperatively. The union rate was 90.1% radiographically, the mean duration of union was 14.3 weeks(range, 12-21 weeks) and the degenerative change in the adjacent joint was showed in 12 patients(54.5%). There were 2 cases of talonavicular nonunion, one superficial wound infection and one partial skin necrosis. Conclusion: Triple arthrodesis for posttraumatic arthritis after calcaneal fractures is a useful method for relief of pain and correction of posttraumatic hindfoot deformity, as an evidenced by the satisfactory clinical outcome. Although a high prevalence of subsequent arthritis of the ankle and midtarsal joint was noted radiographically, we found that it was not clinically relevant.