minimally invasive surgery of tibial plateau fractures reduces incision-healing complications of open reduction and internal fixation

Background: recently, minimally invasive surgical (mis) techniques havebecomemorecommonin orthopedics and traumatology practice. mis techniques may also reduce complications in the treatment of tibial plateau fractures (tpfs). objectives: the aim of this study was to compare the radiological and functional outcomes of tpf, treated by mis techniques and the conventional approach (open reduction and internal fixation). methods: the patients were divided into two groups, receiving either mis (group a) or conventional treatment (group b). each group consisted of 20 patients. the mean age of patients was 46.8±2.85 years in group a and 50.3±2.41 years in group b. incisionhealing complications were classified based on severity. functional outcomes were evaluated using the lysholm scale in the first year. results: complete healing without incision-healing complicationswasreported in all patients from group a, whereas nine incisionhealing complications were found in group b (p < 0.001). the mean lysholm scores of patients in group a and group b were 81.8± 1.72 and 76.3±2.27, respectively (p = 0.06). also, the mean fracture union time in group a and group b was 9.55±0.46 and 10.25±0.71, respectively (p = 0.41). conclusions: widespread use of mis can be promoted in order to reduce incision-healing complications in tpf. however, further prospective studies with a larger sample size are needed to confirm our results.