Removal of the syndesmotic screw after the surgical treatment of a fracture of the ankle in adult patients does not affect one-year outcomes: a randomised controlled trial

This report has been verified by one or more authors of the original publication.

72 patients with distal fibular fracture and tibiofibular diastasis who underwent fibular fixation and syndesmotic screw fixation were randomized to either screw removal at 3 months or retention. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether functional, clinical, or radiographical outcome significantly differed between groups at 1 year postoperatively. The results indicated statistically similar outcome in all measures at 1 year, despite a loose or broken screw being found in 19 patients allocated to screw retention.