Published in June 2021
The AAOS Fracture & Trauma Registry (FTR) is the newest and fifth in a series of anatomical, evidence-based registries that comprise the AAOS Registry Program. There are five clinical modules for FTR, which include: Ankle Fracture, Distal Radius Fracture, Distal Femur Fracture, Hip Fracture, and Proximal Humerus Fracture.
Why an Ankle Fracture Module?
Ankle fractures are a common injury that is most often caused by twisting the ankle. While these injuries can be quite common, adequate epidemiological, clinical, and outcomes-based information at a population-level is lacking. A recent study estimated that there were roughly 673,214 ankle fractures that presented in U.S. hospital emergency departments between 2012 and 2016.(1) However, this only represents a small sampling of a larger picture.
“Our interest in launching the FTR Ankle Fracture is to have real-time, nationwide data capture on ankle fractures across all clinical settings,” said Kenneth J. Hunt, MD, FAAOS, Associate Professor and Chief - Foot and Ankle Surgery at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “With the unique data elements that we are seeking to capture, we can get a better picture of unique patient clusters for developing clinical care pathways and understand best-practice treatments based on specific diagnostic and patient characteristics.”
This is particularly important given the variability with ankle fractures. An ankle fracture can range from a simple break in one bone, which may not stop an individual from walking - to several fractures, which may require no weight-bearing activity for a handful of months. Patient characteristics play an important factor, as young individuals respond differently to injuries than older adults.
“By aggregating data from sites across the country, we can really start to distinguish patterns in the data that otherwise would have gone unnoticed,” said Jaimo Ahn, MD, PhD, FAAOS, FTR Steering Committee Member. “We believe this is a unique opportunity to drive meaningful performance improvement in ankle fracture care and ultimately improve outcomes for patients.”
To learn more about the AAOS FTR, please click here. Right now, the FTR is only open to select sites. If you would like to be added to the waitlist, please email RegistryInfo@aaos.org.
- Scheer RC, Newman JM, Zhou JJ, Oommen AJ, Naziri Q, Shah NV, Pascal SC, Penny GS, McKean JM, Tsai J, Uribe JA. Ankle Fracture Epidemiology in the United States: Patient-Related Trends and Mechanisms of Injury. J Foot Ankle Surg. 2020 May-Jun;59(3):479-483. doi: 10.1053/j.jfas.2019.09.016. PMID: 32354504.