[Are malleolar fractures easy to treat?]

Malleolar fractures rank among the most frequent skeletal injuries. The majority of orthopaedic and trauma surgeons incline to surgical therapy with anatomical reposition and retention going for absolute stability. Recommended surgical techniques with screws, plates or tension-band wiring usually presents no problems for surgeons. Unsatisfactory postoperative radiological results, however, are often tolerated because revision surgery may not always have expected results. Difficulties in decision-making for right treatment are (a) the classification and right interpretation of the fracture type, (b) the question of stability and right treatment of syndesmotic injury, (c) the reconstruction of the distal fibula in length and without malrotation, (d) the question of surgical stabilization of the posterior tibial edge, and (e) the diagnostic and therapeutic approach to the medial osteoligamenteous complex. It is necessary to realise that, whatever classification has been used, injury proceeds in connected stages and can stop in each stage (Lauge-Hansen). Both supination and pronation osteoligamenteous injuries have specific patterns. It is important to analyse these patterns and put right therapeutic consequences. Included in this analysis must be the question of the right management of syndesmotic injury. It needs attention for exact reposition and retention of the distal fibula. Also, a fracture analysis of the medial complex is very important for right osteosynthesis following the principles in fracture treatment. In fractures of the anterior colliculus of the medial malleolus, the deep part of deltoid ligament can also be injured. The listed problems with their critical analyses and interpretations show that injuries of the ankle joint can be difficult to diagnose and treat. In conclusion references to these problems are critically interpreted.