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Treatment of Primarily Ligamentous Lisfranc Joint Injuries: Primary Arthrodesis Compared with Open Reduction and Internal Fixation. a Prospective, Randomized Study.

Ly, Coetzee·J Bone Joint Surg Am·2006·331 citations·Foot & Ankle
DOI·PubMed
SummaryAbstract on PubMed →

Open reduction and internal fixation is currently the accepted treatment for displaced Lisfranc joint injuries. However, even with anatomic reduction and stable internal fixation, treatment of these injuries does not have uniformly excellent outcomes. The objective of this study was to compare primary arthrodesis with open reduction and internal fixation for the treatment of primarily ligamentous Lisfranc joint injuries. Forty-one patients with an isolated acute or subacute primarily ligamentous Lisfranc joint injury were enrolled in a prospective, randomized clinical trial comparing primary arthrodesis with traditional open reduction and internal fixation. The patients were followed for an average of 42.5 months. Evaluation was performed with clinical examination, radiography, the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) Midfoot Scale, a visual analog pain scale, and a clinical questionnaire. Twenty patients were treated with open reduction and screw fixation, and twenty-one patients were treated with primary arthrodesis of the medial two or three rays. Anatomic initial reduction was obtained in eighteen of the twenty patients in the open-reduction group and twenty of the twenty-one in the arthrodesis group. At two years postoperatively, the mean AOFAS Midfoot score was 68.6 points in the open-reduction group and 88 points in the arthrodesis group (p < 0.005). Five patients in the open-reduction group had persistent pain with the development of deformity or osteoarthrosis, and they were eventually treated with arthrodesis. The patients who had been treated with a primary arthrodesis estimated that their postoperative level of activities was 92% of their preinjury level, whereas the open-reduction group estimated that their postoperative level was only 65% of their preoperative level (p < 0.005). A primary stable arthrodesis of the medial two or three rays appears to have a better short and medium-term outcome than open reduction and internal fixati

Study Snapshot

Design
Prospective RCT
Blinding: Open-label
Setting: Single center, University of Minnesota
Funding: None
Objective
Whether primary arthrodesis outperforms ORIF for ligamentous Lisfranc injuries
Outcome(s)
AOFAS Midfoot Scale score at 2 years
Subjects
41 patients with ligamentous Lisfranc injuries
  • 21Primary arthrodesis of medial 2–3 rays
  • 20ORIF with screw fixation of medial 2–3 rays
Inclusion
  • Primarily ligamentous Lisfranc injury
  • Acute or subacute (≤1 month post-injury)
  • Isolated injury, no major fractures
Exclusion
  • Comminuted intra-articular fracture base 1st/2nd metatarsal
  • Insulin-dependent diabetes, PVD, or neuropathy
  • Prior surgical management of same injury
Follow-up
Mean 42.5 months
Statistics
Mann-Whitney test

Key Findings

  • Primary arthrodesis produced dramatically better function: AOFAS scores of 88.0 vs. 68.6 at two years (p = 0.005), and the gap widened at final follow-up (86.9 vs. 57.1, p < 0.0001) — suggesting ORIF patients continued to deteriorate while fusion patients remained stable
  • Patients fused primarily estimated returning to 92% of preinjury activity at two years vs. only 65% in the ORIF group (p < 0.005), with VAS pain scores of 1.2 vs. 4.1 at final follow-up (p = 0.0002)
  • Anatomic reduction did not protect ORIF patients from failure — 15 of 20 developed radiographic loss of correction, deformity, or degenerative change despite 18 of 20 achieving initial anatomic reduction, confirming that restored alignment alone cannot substitute for intact ligaments
  • 5 of 20 ORIF patients required salvage arthrodesis at a mean of 35 months post-injury, with 2 more awaiting conversion; even those salvage fusions averaged only 79 AOFAS points — below the primary arthrodesis group's results
  • Hardware removal burden favored arthrodesis: 16 of 20 ORIF patients required screw removal vs. only 4 of 21 in the fusion group, adding procedural risk and recovery time to an already failing construct

Clinical Relevance

When you see a purely ligamentous Lisfranc injury (tarsometatarsal instability without major osseous comminution — fleck sign included), primary arthrodesis of the medial 2–3 rays should be favored over ORIF: the ligaments simply will not heal strongly enough to maintain reduction after hardware removal, and waiting for failure before fusing costs the patient years of pain and a worse final outcome.

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Treatment of Primarily Ligamentous Lisfranc Joint Injuries: Primary Arthrodesis Compared with Open Reduction and Internal Fixation. a Prospective, Randomized Study.

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|

Treatment of Primarily Ligamentous Lisfranc Joint Injuries: Primary Arthrodesis Compared with Open Reduction and Internal Fixation. a Prospective, Randomized Study.

Ly, Coetzee·J Bone Joint Surg Am·2006·331 citations·Foot & Ankle
DOI·PubMed
SummaryAbstract on PubMed →

Open reduction and internal fixation is currently the accepted treatment for displaced Lisfranc joint injuries. However, even with anatomic reduction and stable internal fixation, treatment of these injuries does not have uniformly excellent outcomes. The objective of this study was to compare primary arthrodesis with open reduction and internal fixation for the treatment of primarily ligamentous Lisfranc joint injuries. Forty-one patients with an isolated acute or subacute primarily ligamentous Lisfranc joint injury were enrolled in a prospective, randomized clinical trial comparing primary arthrodesis with traditional open reduction and internal fixation. The patients were followed for an average of 42.5 months. Evaluation was performed with clinical examination, radiography, the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) Midfoot Scale, a visual analog pain scale, and a clinical questionnaire. Twenty patients were treated with open reduction and screw fixation, and twenty-one patients were treated with primary arthrodesis of the medial two or three rays. Anatomic initial reduction was obtained in eighteen of the twenty patients in the open-reduction group and twenty of the twenty-one in the arthrodesis group. At two years postoperatively, the mean AOFAS Midfoot score was 68.6 points in the open-reduction group and 88 points in the arthrodesis group (p &lt; 0.005). Five patients in the open-reduction group had persistent pain with the development of deformity or osteoarthrosis, and they were eventually treated with arthrodesis. The patients who had been treated with a primary arthrodesis estimated that their postoperative level of activities was 92% of their preinjury level, whereas the open-reduction group estimated that their postoperative level was only 65% of their preoperative level (p &lt; 0.005). A primary stable arthrodesis of the medial two or three rays appears to have a better short and medium-term outcome than open reduction and internal fixati

Study Snapshot

Design
Prospective RCT
Blinding: Open-label
Setting: Single center, University of Minnesota
Funding: None
Objective
Whether primary arthrodesis outperforms ORIF for ligamentous Lisfranc injuries
Outcome(s)
AOFAS Midfoot Scale score at 2 years
Subjects
41 patients with ligamentous Lisfranc injuries
  • 21Primary arthrodesis of medial 2–3 rays
  • 20ORIF with screw fixation of medial 2–3 rays
Inclusion
  • Primarily ligamentous Lisfranc injury
  • Acute or subacute (≤1 month post-injury)
  • Isolated injury, no major fractures
Exclusion
  • Comminuted intra-articular fracture base 1st/2nd metatarsal
  • Insulin-dependent diabetes, PVD, or neuropathy
  • Prior surgical management of same injury
Follow-up
Mean 42.5 months
Statistics
Mann-Whitney test

Key Findings

  • Primary arthrodesis produced dramatically better function: AOFAS scores of 88.0 vs. 68.6 at two years (p = 0.005), and the gap widened at final follow-up (86.9 vs. 57.1, p < 0.0001) — suggesting ORIF patients continued to deteriorate while fusion patients remained stable
  • Patients fused primarily estimated returning to 92% of preinjury activity at two years vs. only 65% in the ORIF group (p < 0.005), with VAS pain scores of 1.2 vs. 4.1 at final follow-up (p = 0.0002)
  • Anatomic reduction did not protect ORIF patients from failure — 15 of 20 developed radiographic loss of correction, deformity, or degenerative change despite 18 of 20 achieving initial anatomic reduction, confirming that restored alignment alone cannot substitute for intact ligaments
  • 5 of 20 ORIF patients required salvage arthrodesis at a mean of 35 months post-injury, with 2 more awaiting conversion; even those salvage fusions averaged only 79 AOFAS points — below the primary arthrodesis group's results
  • Hardware removal burden favored arthrodesis: 16 of 20 ORIF patients required screw removal vs. only 4 of 21 in the fusion group, adding procedural risk and recovery time to an already failing construct

Clinical Relevance

When you see a purely ligamentous Lisfranc injury (tarsometatarsal instability without major osseous comminution — fleck sign included), primary arthrodesis of the medial 2–3 rays should be favored over ORIF: the ligaments simply will not heal strongly enough to maintain reduction after hardware removal, and waiting for failure before fusing costs the patient years of pain and a worse final outcome.

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