Open Reduction and Internal Fixation vs Primary Tibiotalocalcaneal Hindfoot Nailing for Ankle Fractures in Elderly Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background: Current literature lacks comprehensive information comparing primary tibiotalocalcaneal (TTC) hindfoot nailing and open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) in the ankle fractures in the elderly population. This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate and compare the clinical outcomes of 2 surgical techniques, primary TTC nailing and ORIF, for ankle fractures in the elderly. Methods: Our comprehensive literature review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and used databases including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library. Data investigated in this study included total infection, deep infection, superficial infection, hardware problems such as painful hardware, and hardware protrusion/pullout, nonunion/delayed union, reoperation, length of stay, and return to preoperative mobility level. Results: Total 5 studies were included in this study. In aggregate, 127 patients (42.9%) underwent TTC nailing, whereas 169/296 patients (57.1%) underwent ORIF. A lower rate of superficial infection was reported for the TTC nailing group: 2.1% (2/95) in TTC nailing vs 10.2% (14/137) in ORIF, with a relative ratio of 0.26 (95% CI, 0.08-0.85). The other outcome measures were not significantly different between groups. Conclusion: Based on our review of these studies that reported mostly early follow-up data, it appears that primary TTC nailing may be a viable alternative to ORIF for ankle fracture fixation in the elderly population. However, these findings should be interpreted cautiously because of heterogeneity across the included studies.