RE: Astragalus fractures. How to treat them?
Thank you Dr. Leopoldo Maizo for this informative article. orthopedics really needs experts like you.
Astragalus fractures are one thing to avoid. The talas is a very important bone. I imagine the pain and swelling one goes through when it breaks. One cannot even stand on his or her own. Then a wheel chair will be the best companion that time.
We should really watch the way we move(walking and running) to avoid accidents such as falling on the staircases. This more important for kids who are playful.
There are two things I am inquiring about this fracture. First of all if the bone breaks into pieces, don't the broken pieces cut the blood vessels in that region and cause bleeding and then don't some particles get into the blood stream and cause more damage?
secondly how possible is it to identify all the broken pieces during surgery; supposing the ankle bone breaks into 50 tiny pieces ?
Thank you very much for your comment friend @techmillion. The truth is that your doubts are very interesting:
With regard to the first question: Indeed the circulation is interrupted in most fractures, they tend to break and bleed blood vessels, fortunately almost always there are other neighboring arteries that replace these functions, (something that does not happen with the astragalus bone, and therefore should be operated as soon as possible). There is no risk of anything harmful happening to the bloodstream except for a thrombus, but it usually occurs in fractures of large bones such as the femur at the hip or knee, so anticoagulants must be given.
And finally, when the fractures are many fragments (comminuted) we usually perform CT-SCAN to determine the largest fragments, usually the goal is to maintain the alignment of the bones, often these types of fractures heal better than simple fractures but do not believe it.
Thank you for your interest, a hug for you. :D