Role of compression in management of ankle fractures Sultan MJ 1,3,4, Zheng TT 1,3, Hodhody G 1, Kurdy N 2, McCollum CN 1,3,4 1 Academic Vascular Surgery Department, University Hospital of South Manchester (UHSM), 2 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery (UHSM), 3 Department of Vascular Surgery (UHSM), 4 University of Manchester, UK

Ankle fractures 60,000/yr in UK NHS acute bed cost - £67million/yr > 70% suffer long term symptoms

Ankle fracture randomisen=

Study plan randomise wks x-ray 8 <72 hrs OMAS AOFAS SF-12 v2 2 1 physiotherapy

n= boot + ECS n= boot ankle circumference index n=85 p< weeks mean 95% CI % of normal 26

5 DVT DVT 88% 12% 77% 23% 43 boot alone patients 43 boot + ECS patients DVT in 15 (18%) of 86 patients 10 DVT P=0.26

weeks n=42 98 boot + ECS n=43 67 boot Mean OMAS score n=85 p<0.001 score 26

n=43 89 boot n= boot + ECS Mean AOFAS score n=85 p< weeks score 26

n=43 99 boot n= boot + ECS Mean SF12 score n=85 P< weeks score 26

In ankle fracture ECS improves functional outcome and QoL DVT is frequent (18%) ? Does ECS prevent DVT