Medial malleolus fracture of the ankle combined with rupture of the Achilles tendon

Abstract

A 59-year-old man fell off a 60-cm-high step, with his ankle in a twisted position, and sustained a closed fracture of the medial malleolus, with an ipsilateral complete Achilles tendon (TA) rupture. The TA rupture was initially missed but diagnosed by ultrasound examination, 2 weeks post-operatively. The ankle fracture was diagnosed from routine radiographs. Such a combination of injuries has been reported infrequently in the literature, but significant similarities have been described in the mechanism of injury and fracture patterns. Nevertheless, three of five reported cases with combined medial malleolus fractures were initially misdiagnosed.