Abstract: [Objective] To compare the clinical efficacy of double-plate (DP) versus triple-plate (TP) internal fixation of hyperexten-sion tibial plateau fractures in the elderly. [Methods] A retrospective research was performed on 80 elderly patients who received open re-duction and internal fixation (ORIF) for hyperextension tibial plateau fractures in our hospital from April 2017 to April 2022. According todoctor-patient discussion before operation, 40 patients were treated by ORIF with DP, while other 40 patients were with TP. The periopera-tive, follow-up and imaging data of the two groups were compared. [Results] All patients in both groups had operation performed successful-ly. The DP cohort proved significantly less than the TP cohort in terms of operative time [(119.6±25.6) min vs (132.5±27.2) min, P=0.032]and intraoperative blood loss [(249.5±40.3) ml vs (273.3±47.9) ml, P=0.019], although the DP group resumed postoperative ambulation sig-nificantly later than the TP group [(69.5±9.7) days vs (63.7±7.9) days, P=0.019]. In addition, the DP group was marked significantly lessVAS than the TP group 1 day [(8.1±0.9) vs (8.5±0.7), P=0.013] and 3 days postoperatively [(4.8±1.1) vs (5.3±0.9), P=0.016], whereas whichbecame not significant between the two groups 12 days after surgery (P>0.05). The average follow-up time lasted for (16.2±2.6) months, andthere was no significant difference in time to recover full weight-bearing activities between the two groups (P>0.05). The knee pain VASscore, HSS score and knee extension-flexion ROM significantly improved over time in both groups (P<0.05). The DP cohort was significant-ly inferior to the TP cohort in terms of VAS [(1.8±0.7) vs (1.5±0.5), P=0.025], HSS [(65.5±4.4) vs (67.7±4.5), P=0.026] and knee extensionflexionROM [(102.3±4.3)° vs (104.3±4.4)°, P=0.044] 6 months after surgery, while which turned to be not statistically significant betweenthe two groups 12 months postoperatively (P>0.05). Regarding imaging, there were no significant differences in terms of reduction quality of the fractures and healing time, as well as posterior tibial slope (PTS), medial proximal tibial angle (MPTA) at matching time points between
the two groups (
P>0.05).
[Conclusion] ORIF with both DP and TP achieve satisfactory outcomes for hyperextension tibial plateau fractures
in the elderly. By contrast, the DP induces less iatrogenic trauma with less postoperative pain over the TP.