Fru Njimi Ningo^1,, Joel Yves Tochie², Theophile Nana¹, Nkengafac Nyiawung Fobellah³, John Ngunde Palle¹, Anastase T. Dzudie², Bernadette Ateghang-Awankem^{3, 4}, Marcelin Ngowe Ngowe¹

Background: Bimalleolar fractures form a part of ankle fractures, one of the commonest traumatic injuries, accounting for a tenth of all fractures. They are also found to be among the common traumatic injuries requiring hospitalization. With an observed trend of rising incidence across the world and the paucity of data available on the pathology in this area, ankle fractures require studies assessing the burden and management of the pathology in this region. Bimalleolar fractures account for approximately one-fourth of ankle fractures and are the focus of this study. Objectives: To determine the epidemiological characteristics and clinical patterns of bimalleolar fractures and evaluate the short-term outcomes within the last 10 years at the Buea Regional Hospital, Limbe Regional Hospital and St. Luke Clinic Buea. Methods: A retrospective observational study was carried out on bimalleolar fractures admission cases at three centres in the Fako Division between 2010 and 2019. A data collection sheet was used to gather information on the demographic characteristics, clinical pattern, management and early postoperative outcome patterns of the cases. SPSS software was used for analysis, with one sample t test and Chi square test employed to assess correlations of the different variables tracked. Results: We identified 178 cases of bimalleolar fractures, and excluded 11 patient files due to inadequate data. Of the 167 files included 92(55.1% ) were males, the mean age was 37.3 years(±15.80) with the fourth and third decades of life being the most frequent age groups in this study. Weber Classified cases revealed Type B bimalleolar fractures to be most common, as there were 24 cases (44.4%), with 133 closed fractures (79.6%) and 96 cases (57.5%) on the left ankle. Open Reduction Internal Fixation was the management option most employed. Surgical site infections occurred in 6 (5.5%) of the cases, with cases which underwent Open Reduction External Fixation accounting for most of these cases, while wound healing occurred within a month in 99 cases (49.1%). Partial weight-bearing was distributed differently between the operative and non-operative cases, with cases managed operatively taking longer to begin weight-bearing. Mean time to partial weight-bearing was 4.8weeks (±1.81). Conclusions: Bimalleolar fractures are traumatic injuries with a male and active population predominance. Weber Type B fractures are the most frequently occurring bimalleolar fractures and most bimalleolar fractures were closed with a left-sided predominance. Wound complications were uncommon and time to weight-bearing depended on management modality.

epidemiology, road traffic accident, bimalleolar fracture