Original ResearchOperative versus Nonoperative Treatment of Displaced Intra-articular Calcaneal Fractures in Elderly Patients
Section snippets
Patients and Methods
We performed a multicenter retrospective investigation of patients aged 65 to 75 years who had sustained a displaced intra-articular calcaneal fracture that was treated either by means of ORIF or nonoperative care between December 2001 and December 2005. Protocols were different between the 2 hospitals involved in the study in the sense that in one center all the displaced intra-articular calcaneal fractures in patients older than 65 years were treated without surgery, whereas in the other
Results
Based on our inclusion criteria, 33 patients were available for the analyses used in this retrospective cohort study, and 18 (54.6%) of these underwent surgical repair of their calcaneal fracture, whereas 15 (45.5%) were treated nonsurgically. Results for the treatment groups at the 2-year follow-up evaluation are summarized in Table 1, Table 2, and Table 3 depicts statistical comparisons for the demographic and outcome variables between the treatment groups. The mean age for the patients in
Discussion
Controversy exists as to which is the best treatment for displaced intra-articular calcaneal fractures. A number of retrospective and few small prospective studies reported better results with operative treatment than with nonsurgical management 20, 21, 22, 23. The meta-analysis of Randle et al. (21) reported a trend for a better outcome from surgical treatment of calcaneal fractures, but the authors stressed their concerns for the weakness of their evidence for deciding on the optimal
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Financial Disclosure: None reported.
Conflict of Interest: None reported.