A Comparison of Functional Outcome of Intra Articular Distal Tib-ial Pilon Fracture Treated by One Stage vs Two Stage Surgically

Introduction: The study was conducted to evaluate clinical and functional outcomes of comminuted pilon of distal tibial fractures after surgical management and fixation by modalities available ranging from temporary external fixation, simple distal tibial plates to moderate plating system and intra medullary nails for fibula. Methodology: Total 24 cases with intraarticular distal tibial pilon fracture were randomly divided in to two group. One group was managed by one stage procedure and second group was operated by two stage procedure. Results: From this study we infer that patient who had undergone one stage procedure had shorter hospital stay. In present study we observed that arthrosis, superficial infection and arthritis was higher in two stage procedure. Assessed by Ovadia Beals Evaluation Score - Objective Evaluation as well as subjective evaluation. Furthermore, the rate of complications was also identical. However, functional outcome assessed using the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) Ankle-Hindfoot Score revealed that the patients underwent one stage procedure had better functional outcome. Conclusion: Considering the better functional outcome and the shorter hospital stay, we preferred using one stage operative procedure in better skin condition, less soft tissue damage, closed fracture of type b and C AO/OTA Pilon fractures.