Ankle fracture management using smartphone multimedia messaging service (MMS) imaging - How reliable and to what point?

Background The use of smartphones and multimedia messaging service (MMS) continues to increase in day to day orthopaedic clinical practice. However, there is limited evidence to support the safe utilisation of MMS. Objectives The aim of this study was to correlate the performance of MMS imaging to picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) imaging within the setting of diagnosis and management of ankle fractures. Methods The ankle fracture radiograph series of 82 consecutive patients were evaluated by five orthopaedic consultant specialists. A questionnaire regarding diagnosis and preferred management was completed separately for each patient using smartphone and PACS images. Statistical analysis was performed using Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Results Ankle fracture diagnosis showed strong to excellent correlation both inter- and intraobserver MMS vs PACS when using the Weber (0.815, 0.988), Anatomical (0.858, 0.988), and AO classification systems (0.855, 0.985). MMS was less reliable than PACS in determining many management options. Conclusion The reliability of ankle fracture classification using MMS image viewing was not significantly different to interpretation on PACS workstations. Smartphone use in ankle fracture classification is supported by this study. Smartphone use was less accurate than PACS in devising management plans and future use should be limited to making only initial plans that must be corroberated with PACS and intraoperative findings prior to definitive fixation.