Lessons Learned on the Timing of Surgical Intervention for Ankle Fractures: A Poster from the ACFAS Annual Scientific Conference
Good morning. My name is Dr. Aarron Flowers and I'm an attending physician here at Palo Alto Medical Foundation Santa Cruz Division.
So based on the results of our study, we found that there was no ideal time for ankle fixation when the soft tissue envelope was stable. I believe that this is helpful in guiding scheduling decisions that also helped with avoiding unnecessary hospital costs, undergoing procedures in the middle of the night, overall surgeon quality of life without compromising patient care.
I think in general, surgeons could use this as a guideline as far as outpatient management for ankle fractures. I think when you rule out, like I said, compromise soft tissue, open fractures, pilons, a lot of these traditional ankle fractures can be managed outpatient and fixated, relative to the surgeon's specific needs.