Ankle Arthrodesis Following Trauma, a Useful SalvageProcedure – A Report on Three Cases

Open musculoskeletal injuries remain a difficult problemto manage especially in resource-poor regions. they arecomplicated by prolonged morbidity and chronic osseousinfections and sometimes gangrene. our objective was tolook at ankle arthrodesis as a primary and useful salvageprocedure through simple technique for cases of severeopen ankle injuries. three patients with severe open ankleinjuries between january 2007 and december 2009 wereseen and had wound debridement done and compressiveankle arthrodesis with a charnley’s arthrodesis clamp.tibiotalar and tibiocalcaneal arthrodesis was the procedurecarried out. patients were followed up for 3–12 months.wound breakdown was seen in two cases and one laterhad skin grafting. all patients expressed satisfaction with theoutcome of surgery. ankle arthrodesis is a simple and usefulsalvage procedure for severe ankle disruption, guaranteeingpatients satisfaction as against amputation.