History of Bosworth fracture-dislocations

Abstract

Bosworth fracture (BF) is a special type of ankle fracture-dislocation, characterized by displacement of a fragment of the fractured fibula from the fibular notch behind the posterior surface of the distal tibia. The eponym Bosworth fracture refers to David March Bosworth (1897–1979), who, in 1947, described 5 cases of this injury. Over the next 20 years, BFs were recorded only by North American authors. The first European case was described as late as in 1989. Essential for understanding the BF pathoanatomy was CT, used for the first time in 1995. This technology has obviously improved diagnosis of this injury, with only 49 cases reported until 2007 as compared to 126 cases recorded during the next 15 years. Analysis of these cases has shown that BF is a severe type of ankle fracture-dislocation associated with a number of serious complications, which will require further investigation.