007 - Surgery vs Walking Boot for Stable Weber B Ankle Fractures (CROSSBAT)

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! In this episode of Ortho Appraised, Dr Rajabifard appraises "Minimum 5-Year Follow-up Results: CROSSBAT" published in Foot & Ankle International. The clinical question: for a stable Weber B ankle fracture with no talar shift, does surgery beat a walking boot over five or more years? The long-term data support non-operative management for these stable injuries. 📄 Citation: O'Keefe R, Naylor JM, Symes MJ, Harris IA, Mittal R. Minimum 5-Year Follow-up Results: CROSSBAT (Combined Randomised and Observational Study of Surgery vs No Surgery for Type B Ankle Fracture Treatment). Foot Ankle Int. 2022;43(12):1517–24. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/10711007221128562 Key Takeaways: * Long-term (5–8 year) follow-up of a pragmatic Australian RCT with masked outcome assessors and a pre-specified 5-point MCID. * Surgery was not superior on either patient-reported primary outcome; the differences were small and non-significant. * Non-operative care avoided the additional adverse events seen in the surgical arm. * Practice implication: a walking boot is a sound first-line option for isolated Weber B fractures without talar shift. * As with any long-term follow-up, attrition accumulates over the years, so individual figures are best read as part of a consistent overall picture. 🔗 Full paper: https://doi.org/10.1177/10711007221128562 Keywords: Weber B ankle fracture, CROSSBAT trial, non-operative ankle fracture, walking boot, foot and ankle evidence. New episodes every Sunday. Subscribe so you never miss one.