A REVIEW OF CALCANEAL FRACTURES PRESENTING TO A SOUTH AFRICAN TERTIARY INSTITUTION

Abstract

To identify the demographics, mechanisms of injury and treatment modalities of patients presenting at CHBAH with calcaneal fractures.A retrospective study of all admitted patients with calcaneal fractures from 01 January 2018 to 31 December 2022. The data collected includes age, gender, side of injury, mechanism of injury, isolated injury versus polytrauma, open and close fractures, different treatment modalities and time to surgery. The descriptive data will be analysed, with results presented as frequency charts, histograms, and percentages.A total of 98 patients showed a male predominance of 90.8% compared to 9.2% of females. The median age was 38 years, the commonest mechanism was from falls from height, accounting for 67.3% with gunshot injuries accounting for 5%. Bilateral fractures were observed in 5 patients, with similar total numbers between those isolated to the left (47) as compared to the injuries isolated to the right side (46). Calcaneus fractures associated with other injuries in polytrauma cases were observed in 17.4%, and open fractures were observed in 7 patients with 5 having occurred post gunshot injury.A total of 48 patient required surgical treatment with the average time to surgery found to be 15 days. The surgical management varied, with open reduction and internal fixation with plate and screws in 68.7%, followed by 16.7% of patients who were treated with open reduction and internal screw fixation.Calcaneal fractures occurred frequently amongst male patients secondary to fall from height. Half of the total patient number admitted had require a surgical intervention to treat the fracture, with open reduction and internal fixation with plate and screws being the frequent mode of fixation in this population group.