Surgical timing for torsional ankle fractures is not associated with post-operative complications in patients with type II diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Introduction: Surgical stabilization of ankle fractures is one of the most commonly performed procedures in orthopedics, but these injuries can prove difficult to manage in patients with type II diabetes mellitus (DMII). The goal of this study is to determine if a correlation exists between surgical timing and complication rates among diabetic patients with ankle fractures.

Methods: This is a retrospective case-control study spanning from 2012 to 2019 including patients with DMII undergoing operative fixation for ankle fractures. The primary independent variable was surgical timing and the primary dependent variable was the rate of post-operative complications.

Results: The overall complication rate was 25.5% with 60% of these patients requiring repeat surgical intervention. The most common complication was superficial surgical-site infection. There was no significant difference in surgical timing between patients experiencing post-operative complication compared to those who did not.

Conclusion: Among patients with DMII, we failed to show a correlation between surgical timing and post-operative complication.

Keywords: Ankle fracture; Diabetes mellitus type II; Open reduction internal fixation; Post-operative complications; Surgical timing.