Rare injuries to the distal tibiofibular joint in children

Injuries to the distal tibiofibular junction have been very precisely described in adults including diagnosis and treatment. By comparison, only two types of epiphyseal fracture were described as the equivalent of such an injury in the growing skeleton until now: the juvenile Tillaux fracture and the lateral triplane fracture. During a five-year period (1997 - 2001) twenty children with distal tibiofibular joint injury were treated in our department. Three previously unpublished types of epiphyseal injury to the distal tibial mortise are presented: intraepiphyseal fractures of Chaput's tubercle type 7A and 7B according to Ogden's classification (in two and one cases, respectively) and an intraepiphyseal subcortical tibial mortise disruption (one case). The authors suggest that these three types are transitive types between juvenile Tillaux fracture in children and disruption of the distal tibiofibular syndesmosis in adults. All three types were without significant displacement and were stable in stress positions of the ankle joint. Thus, the treatment was nonoperative with excellent results and without sequelae.