Comparison of the Curative Effect of Percutaneous Reduction with Plastic Calcaneal Forceps Combined with Medial External Fixation in the Treatment of Intra‐Articular Calcaneal Fractures

Objective To compare the clinical efficacy of percutaneous minimally invasive reduction combined with external fixation and a tarsal sinus approach to treat Sanders type II and III intra‐articular calcaneal fractures. Methods The clinical data of 64 patients with Sanders type II and III calcaneal fractures admitted to our hospital from January 2010 to January 2016 were retrospectively analyzed; data includedage, sex, body mass index. According to the surgical method, they were divided into the percutaneous minimally invasive reduction with internal and external fixation group (30 cases) and the tarsal sinus approach group (34 cases).The two groups of patients were compared in terms of the time tosurgery, length of hospital stay, intraoperative blood loss, operative duration, complications, radiographic features, including the heel bone length, width, height, Bohlerangle, Gissane angle, and calcaneal varus angle, and clinical efficacy indicators, including the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) score, the visual analog scale (VAS) pain score, health survey profile (SF‐36) score and Maryland ankle function score. Results Patients in both groups were followed up for 12 to 50 months, with an average of 24.8 months.Bony union was achieved in all cases. The time to surgery, length of hospitalstay, intraoperative blood loss and incidence of incision‐related complications were significantly lower in the percutaneous minimally invasive medial external fixation group than in the tarsal sinus group ( P  < 0.01). At the last follow‐up, the calcaneal length, width, and height, Bohler angle, Gissane angle, and varus angle were significantly increased in both groups ( P  < 0.01), the calcaneal width was significantly lower after than before surgery ( P  < 0.01), and there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups ( P  > 0.05). As measures of clinical efficacy, the AOFAS, VAS, SF‐36 and Maryland scores were 85.28 ± 8.21, 0.84 ± 1.21, 82.95 ± 3.25 and 83.56 ± 3.32, respectively, at the last follow‐up in the percutaneous minimally invasive medial external fixation group and 83.32 ± 7.69, 1.85 ± 1.32, 80.71 ± 5.42, and 81.85 ± 2.41 in the tarsal sinus group, respectively, with no significant differences between the two groups ( P  > 0.05). Conclusion Under the condition of a good command of surgical indications and surgical skills, the use of plastic calcaneal forceps for percutaneous minimally invasive reduction combined with medial external fixation for the treatment of Sanders type II and III intra‐articular calcaneal fractures can achieve similar clinical effects as the tarsal sinus approach. However, the use of plastic calcaneal forceps for percutaneous minimally invasive reduction combined with internal and external fixation has advantages, such as fewer complications, less bloodloss, and a shorter operation, and thus has good safety and is worthy of clinical promotion.