The Treatment of Unstable Ankle Fractures in Patients over Eighty Years of Age

Background: The current study examined the outcomes of operative treatment of unstable ankle fractures in patients at least 80 years old at the time of injury. Methods: Of 2,682 patients who presented for treatment of ankle fractures, 17 patients met the study criteria. These patients had open reduc-tion and internal fixation after sustaining 15 closed and two open unstable ankle fractures. There were 11 type B fractures and six type C fractures by the Danis-Weber classification, and 12 supination-external rotation and five pronation-external rotation fractures by the Laugen-Hansen classification systems. Results: When noncompliant patients who developed compli-cations were removed from analysis, the fixation failure and deep infection rates were 0 % each. Conclusions: These results highlight the importance of patient compliance and nonweight-bearing status in the treatment of ankle fractures in patients over 80 years