Calcaneus fractures: characteristics of radiological and clinical outcomes of surgery treatment

Background: Calcaneus fracture is one of the types of fractures that have a fairly frequent clinical frequency. Recently, there are many other values on X-rays and CT scans of the calcaneus used for diagnosis, evaluation, and prognostic in outcomess.This study aims to evaluate the imaging characteristics on radiographs and CT scans of calcaneus fractures and surgical treatment outcomes in patients with calcaneus fractures as well. Materials and Method: from October 2019 to June 2021, 32 patients with calcaneus fractures were diagnosed and underwent open and internal fixation surgery at Department of Orthopedic-Thoracic Trauma Surgery, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital. All calcanues were estimated for Boehler angle, Gissane angle, height, length, and calcasneus width, the results of treatment are evaluated on the scale of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS). Results: There were 20 cases of left and 12 cases of right calcaneus. The average follow-up period is 03-06 months.The average AOFAS score at post-operative 3 and 6 months was 78.73 ± 11.86 (65-93) and 88.44 ± 4.98 (81-97), respectively. Boehler angle value preoperative 10.56 ± 9.410 increased post-operative 24.34 ± 9.360, p<0.001, Gissane angle pre-operative 93.580 (850 - 1000) increased post-operative 114.70 ± 5.230, p<0.001. The width of the pre-surgery heel bone is 65.4 (60-68) mm and post-operative 60.1 (58-63) mm. Pre-operative heel bone height was 37.1 (26-49) while post-surgery calcaneus height was 48.2 (41-58) p<0.05. Pre-operative calcaneus length was 83.2 (75-92) and post-operative calcaneus length was 82.7 (75-91) p>0.05. Conclusion: The findings of the study reveal that open reduction and internal fixation for calcaneal fractures has positive results in terms of imaging and ankle function for patients. Furthermore, the inclusion of extra characteristics on calcaneus X-rays and CT scans helps to improve treatment outcomes in calcaneal fracture surgery. Key words: calcaneus fractures, calcaneus fractures open reduction and internal fixation