Sven Y Vetter1, Nora Palesche1, Nils Beisemann1, Marc Schnetzke1, Holger Keil1, Joachim Kirsch2, Paul Alfred Grützner1, Jochen Franke3. 1. MINTOS-Medical Imaging and Navigation in Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, BG Trauma Center Ludwigshafen at Heidelberg University Hospital, Ludwig-Guttmannstr. 13, 67071, Ludwigshafen, Germany. 2. Institute for Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. 3. MINTOS-Medical Imaging and Navigation in Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, BG Trauma Center Ludwigshafen at Heidelberg University Hospital, Ludwig-Guttmannstr. 13, 67071, Ludwigshafen, Germany. jochen.franke@bgu-ludwigshafen.de.
Abstract
PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to identify to what extent a dissection of the syndesmosis and an avulsed posterior edge of the tibia can change the tibiofibular diastasis and fibular rotation. METHODS: Three-dimensional scans with a mobile C-arm of 22 cadaver legs were taken of the intact fibula, after dissection of the anterior part of the syndesmosis and the interosseous membrane, osteotomy of the posterior malleolus, and osteosynthesis. The tibiofibular diastasis as well as the angle of fibular rotation was identified in the four steps and the means compared to each other using a t test for paired samples. RESULTS: The distinction between the intact fibula vs. the osteotomy of the posterior tibia was 0.082 ± 0.332 mm for the tibiofibular distance in the incisura tibiofibularis (p 0.261) and 0.046 ± 0.486 degrees for the angle of the fibular rotation (p 0.665). CONCLUSION: Neither the dissection of the syndesmosis nor the osteotomy of the posterior malleolus significantly influenced the position of the fibula in the incisura tibiofibularis in the cadaveric model. However, in the nonweight-bearing situation, a lesion of the syndesmotic complex might not be evident in intraoperative three-dimensional imaging.
PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to identify to what extent a dissection of the syndesmosis and an avulsed posterior edge of the tibia can change the tibiofibular diastasis and fibular rotation. METHODS: Three-dimensional scans with a mobile C-arm of 22 cadaver legs were taken of the intact fibula, after dissection of the anterior part of the syndesmosis and the interosseous membrane, osteotomy of the posterior malleolus, and osteosynthesis. The tibiofibular diastasis as well as the angle of fibular rotation was identified in the four steps and the means compared to each other using a t test for paired samples. RESULTS: The distinction between the intact fibula vs. the osteotomy of the posterior tibia was 0.082 ± 0.332 mm for the tibiofibular distance in the incisura tibiofibularis (p 0.261) and 0.046 ± 0.486 degrees for the angle of the fibular rotation (p 0.665). CONCLUSION: Neither the dissection of the syndesmosis nor the osteotomy of the posterior malleolus significantly influenced the position of the fibula in the incisura tibiofibularis in the cadaveric model. However, in the nonweight-bearing situation, a lesion of the syndesmotic complex might not be evident in intraoperative three-dimensional imaging.