[Arthrodesis of the tarsal tibia for the outcomes in fractures of the collum tali. A review of cases and long-term follow-up].

In the wards of the CTO Hospital in Florence, isolated arthrodeses of the tarsal tibia for ankle fractures, or their effects or complications, have been performed on 29 patients in the past 13 years. Of these 29 patients we were able to personally check up on 23, with a follow-up time ranging from one to thirteen years. The patients we followed-up on had been operated on using the Scaglietti technique or its variations in 15 cases, the Charnley technique in 7 cases, and the fixation according to Ilizarov in one case. We examined the pre-operatory clinical-radiographic conditions and the surgical techniques utilized with all of their advantages, disadvantages, limits, and pre and post-operatory complications. In the follow-up studies, for instance, in addition to the subjectivity of the patient we clinically evaluated the commemorative signs and post-ambulatory adaptation phenomena as a function of the residual degree of equinism and, radiologically, the condition of the arthrodesis and the articulation proximal to the tarsal tibia. Tibio-tarsal arthrodesis, notwithstanding the inconveniences common to all types of arthrodesis, has in essence retained its validity regarding the seriously crippling effects of ankle fractures.