Unfavourable radiological signs in fractures of the calcaneum

Although 28 radiological signs in both primary and late radiographs were analysed for 67 patients with 86 fractures of the calcaneum. The fracture type is correlated with the clinical late result in Table 1. The radiological signs which predict or correlate with a poor late result are presented in Table 2. The operative reduction is mainly directed to improve the architecture of the posterior talocalcaneal joint: in our series the improvement was observed in half of the postoperative radiographs. However, this improvement was not usually followed by a favourable late result; mainly because the operated patients had also the most severe injuries.