Management of Ankle Fractures: Does the Timing of Surgical Intervention Have an Impact on Patient Outcomes?

Introduction Orthopaedic surgeons frequently manage patients presenting with an ankle fracture. It has been observed that these injuries can be present in both young and elderly patients. Surgical intervention with open reduction and internal fixation is often performed for unstable ankle fractures. Methods This study was performed at a district general hospital in the United Kingdom and is a retrospective cohort study. The electronic database was reviewed from January 2021 to December 2024 to identify and review the notes for the patients to be included in the study. After identifying the patients, they were divided into two groups. The patients who had surgical intervention in less than 10 days were allocated to the early surgery group, and the patients who had surgery at day 10 or after day 10 of the injury were allocated to the delayed surgery group. Results Overall, 96 patients were included in this study, where 29 (30.21%) had early surgical intervention and 67 (69.79%) had delayed surgical intervention. The results were not statistically significant for patient outcomes between the two groups. A correlation was observed between the age of the patients and the length of hospital stay. Conclusion At present, there is no definitive consensus with regards to the optimal timing for surgical intervention of ankle fractures. The results of this study highlight that there was no significant difference for post-operative complications between the two groups, which is consistent with the literature. A study with a larger sample size is required to analyse the long-term patient outcomes.