Keith Willett, David J Keene, Dipesh Mistry, Julian Nam, Elizabeth Tutton, Robert Handley, Lesley Morgan, Emma Roberts, Andrew Briggs, Ranjit Lall, Timothy J S Chesser, Ian Pallister, Sarah E Lamb
IMPORTANCE: Ankle fractures cause substantial morbidity in older persons. Surgical fixation is the contemporary intervention but is associated with infection and other healing complications. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether initial fracture treatment with close contact casting, a molded below-knee cast with minimal padding, offers outcome equivalent to that with immediate surgery, with fewer complications and less health resource use. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a pragmatic, equivalence, randomized clinical trial with blinded outcome assessors...
October 11, 2016: JAMA