A total of 170 patients with tibial plateau fractures were treated at the University Clinic for Trauma and Rehabilitation Surgery of the Halle/Wittenberg Martin Luther University Clinics (in its 2nd location: Kröllwitz) from 1995 to 2000 and at the ELIA* Clinic Bergmannstrost, Halle, from 1996. Of these, 66 patients presented for clinical and radiological follow-ups between September 17 and October 1, 2001, when they were encouraged to provide subjective details and perceptions of their injuries, treatments and progress of recovery. For the purpose of analysis patients were grouped as ELIA-insured, insured with public health insurers, or insured with private health insurers, according to their individual type of insurance. Fractures were categorized following the classification of the AO Foundation (Association for Questions of Osteosynthesis), with the majority being classified as type B fractures. As for the method of treatment administered, surgical management of the tibial plateau fractures outweighed conservative therapy in both insurance-type groups. Evaluation of the data obtained demonstrated better outcomes in the group insured with private or public health insurers, both for the clinical as well as the radiological part of examinations. After the criteria explicitly developed for this investigation had been defined, the study was ready to be conducted with the help of two different score systems, i. e. the Rasmussen Score for the assessment of tibial plateau fractures and the Lysholm Score used to assess knee instability. |