What does pilon fracture mean?

Pilon fracture is a specific type of ankle fracture in orthopedic trauma, defined as a fracture of the distal tibia involving the articular surface of the ankle cavity, usually caused by violent injuries such as falls from height, car accidents, and sports injuries, etc. Radiographs show unevenness of the articular surface of the distal tibia, or even severe fragmentation, displacement, collapse of the articular surface, and cancellous bone defects, often combined with a fracture of the lower fibula. fracture of the lower fibula. Because most of these are high-energy injuries, they are often associated with soft tissue skin damage to the lower leg, or even open fractures, or closed fractures with rapidly increasing swelling of the lower leg, resulting in tense blistering of the skin and poor peripheral blood supply. For open fractures, emergency debridement and temporary fixation with an external brace is required, and second-stage surgery is performed to resolve the fracture after the soft tissue injury has stabilized. For closed Pilon fractures, most of them require heel bone traction of the affected limb, braking to maintain the axis of the limb, and cold compresses to stop bleeding and reduce swelling and pain. After the swelling has subsided and the skin condition has stabilized, surgical treatment such as incision and repositioning, bone grafting and internal fixation will be performed at an optional stage.