Incidence of Peroneal Tendinopathy After Application of a Posterior Antiglide Plate for Repair of Supination External Rotation Lateral Malleolar Fractures

Posterior antiglide plating is widely used to treat lateral malleolar fractures caused by supination-external rotation injuries. Despite its widespread use, this technique can be associated with postoperative peroneal tendinopathy. The purpose of the present observational review was to report the incidence of peroneal tendinopathy after the use of posterior antiglide plating to treat lateral malleolar fractures caused by a supination-external rotation injury. A total of 70 patients were followed up for a minimum of 12 (mean 55, range 12 to 109) months. Bony union was obtained in all cases after a mean of 57 (range 37 to 81) days. The median number of screw holes in the plate was 4.9 (range 4 to 7), and the median number of screws used to fixate the fibula was 6.58 (range 5 to 10). The mean American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society hindfoot-ankle score at the final follow-up examination was 90.8 (range 55 to 100). Clinically, 3 (4.29%) of the 70 patients had lateral or posterolateral ankle pain indicative of peroneal tendinopathy after the index surgery, without any objective evidence. Of the 70 patients, 41 (58.57%) underwent surgical removal of the fibular hardware, 2 (4.87%) because of lateral ankle discomfort. At removal, inspection of the peroneal tendon sheath and/or tendons showed no gross evidence of tendinopathy in any of the patients. We concluded that the incidence of clinically evident peroneal tendon symptoms associated with posterior antiglide plating is low (4.3%), and direct operative inspection revealed no gross evidence of tendinopathy.