Talar fracture/dislocation in the adolescent patient

The authors report an 18-year-old patient who sustained a two-part injury involving his right ankle. The result of this traumatic episode was a fracture/dislocation of the talus. An interesting aspect of this injury is that the body of the talus dislocated laterally, distal to the fibular malleolus. Closed reduction was attempted and subsequent open reduction with internal fixation was performed. The patient was followed for 9 months, during which time a series of radiographs was taken. Nine months postoperatively, Hawkins sign was negative indicative of avascular necrosis. In review of the literature, no fractures with lateral dislocations of this nature were found.