Short-term Follow-up of Patients Receiving Bio-integrative Screws for Lisfranc Injuries: A Case Series

Introduction: Various methods are used for open reduction and internal fixation of Lisfranc injuries, and each shows different post-treatment outcomes. Other than the common post-surgery problems in these patients, including possible non-anatomical reduction, implant loosening, breakage, and arthritis, most of these patients will undergo a second surgery for implant removal which itself might cause further complications. To reduce the need for re-operation, bio-degradable or bio-integrative implants can be promising; however, the short- and long-term outcomes have been scarcely investigated to date. Case Report: We followed up 10 adult patients who received bio-integrative screws for Lisfranc injuries. The patients were asked to fill out the patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) surveys during one of the follow-up visits. We gathered variables including the type of injury, pain score, and PROMs including physical function (PF), pain interference, pain intensity, and depression. We evaluated the patients for wound dehiscence, non-union, and hardware failure. The median (interquartile range [IQR]) follow-up time of the patients in this study was 9 (4–11.5) months. Nine out of 10 patients with Lisfranc injuries who received bio-integrative screws showed improvements in their pain scores and started progressive weight-bearing. Among 3 patients who had sport-related Lisfranc injuries, 2 returned to play in <6 months, and one started side-to-side agility work in <3 months. The median (IQR) scores of PROMs representing PF, depression, physical health, mental health, pain interference, and pain intensity were 49.5 (30.1–61.9), 41 (41–49), 50.8 (39.2–57.7), 59 (48.9–63.7), 51.7 (41.6–72.6), and 43.5 (37.8–55.2), respectively. Conclusion: Our results demonstrated promising short-term outcomes of using bio-integrative screws in patients with Lisfranc injuries based on PROMs and the rate of complications. Future studies on larger populations and more comprehensive variables with longer follow-up duration should be the next step in evaluating the pros and cons of these new implants. Keywords: Bio-integrative implant, revision surgery, implant removal, Lisfranc complications.