Lisfranc Injury: a Comprehensive Analysis of LongTerm Outcomes - the Oswestry Experience

Abstract

Purpose of the study: Lisfranc is a challenging injury both diagnostically and surgically, with sparse long-term literature evidence of surgical practice. We aim to review our long-term specialist orthopaedic institutional experience of Lisfranc injuries and the surgical management of this complex injury, specifically considering surgical outcomes as per radiological and clinical assessment.

Material and methods: We present data from a prospectively maintained institutional database, reviewing patients who underwent operative fixation for Lisfranc injury between April 2014 and August 2020. Patients were referred to our institution from hospitals across the country. We included all operatively managed Lisfranc injuries, primary procedures, and patients over the age of 16. Revision procedures, open injuries, polytrauma patients, patients under the age of 16, and those with multiple foot injuries were excluded. We assessed post-operative results as per the Wilpulla radiographic and clinical criteria.

Results: We treated 27 patients across the study period, of mean age 37.5 (SD 18.3), 55% male and 45% female. 33.3% of our patients were obese as defined by body mass index >30. As per the Myerson classification, we had 2 category A, 24 category B, and 1 category C injuries. Time to operation was median 14 days (range 0-116), with 2 delayed presentations following failure of conservative treatment. Our median length of stay was 1 day (range 0-16). We had 3 complications: 2 wound infections and 1 re-operation for non-union. Post-operative assessment as per Wilpulla demonstrated 74% of good, 18.5% fair and 7% poor fixation results.

Conclusions: In our institutional experience, partial congruity lateral displacement injuries were the majority of surgical referrals. Surgical treatment through open reduction and internal fixation delivers good clinical and radiographically anatomical results. Further to conventional mechanisms of injury, we propose obesity to be an important risk factor for indirect, low-energy injuries that may help identify this injury.

Key words: Lisfranc injury, long-term, orthopaedic surgery, obesity.