TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparing the Knotless Tension Band and the Traditional Stainless Steel Wire Tension Band Fixation for Medial Malleolus Fractures
T2 - A Retrospective Clinical Study
AU - Downey, Michael W.
AU - Duncan, Kyle
AU - Kosmopoulos, Victor
AU - Motley, Travis A.
AU - Carpenter, Brian B.
AU - Ogunyankin, Fadeke
AU - Garrett, Alan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Michael W. Downey et al.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - The traditional stainless steel wire tension band (WTB) has been popularized for small avulsion fractures at the medial malleolus. Despite the tension band principle creating a stable construct, complications continue to arise utilizing the traditional stainless steel WTB with patients experiencing hardware irritation at the tension band site and subsequent hardware removal. Coupled with hardware irritation is fatigue failure with the wire. The goal of this investigation was to retrospectively compare this traditional wire technique to an innovative knotless tension band (KTB) technique in order to decrease costly complications. A total of 107 patients were reviewed with a minimum follow-up of 1 year. Outcome measures include descriptive data, fracture classification, results through economic costs, and fixation results (including hardware status, healing status, pain status, and time to healing). The KTB group had a 13% lower true cost as compared to the WTB group while the fixation results were equivocal for the measured outcomes. Our results demonstrate that the innovative KTB is comparable to the traditional WTB while offering a lower true cost, an irritation free reduction all without the frustration of returning to the operating room for additional hardware removal, which averages approximately to $8,288.
AB - The traditional stainless steel wire tension band (WTB) has been popularized for small avulsion fractures at the medial malleolus. Despite the tension band principle creating a stable construct, complications continue to arise utilizing the traditional stainless steel WTB with patients experiencing hardware irritation at the tension band site and subsequent hardware removal. Coupled with hardware irritation is fatigue failure with the wire. The goal of this investigation was to retrospectively compare this traditional wire technique to an innovative knotless tension band (KTB) technique in order to decrease costly complications. A total of 107 patients were reviewed with a minimum follow-up of 1 year. Outcome measures include descriptive data, fracture classification, results through economic costs, and fixation results (including hardware status, healing status, pain status, and time to healing). The KTB group had a 13% lower true cost as compared to the WTB group while the fixation results were equivocal for the measured outcomes. Our results demonstrate that the innovative KTB is comparable to the traditional WTB while offering a lower true cost, an irritation free reduction all without the frustration of returning to the operating room for additional hardware removal, which averages approximately to $8,288.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85019164339&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1155/2016/3201678
DO - 10.1155/2016/3201678
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85019164339
VL - 2016
JO - Scientifica
JF - Scientifica
SN - 2090-908X
M1 - 3201678
ER -