title: Delayed presentation of a loose body in undisplaced paediatric talar neck fracture.
abstract: Fractures of the talus are rare in children. A high index of suspicion is needed to avoid missing such an injury, which is not an uncommon occurrence especially with undisplaced fractures. We present an unusual case of an undisplaced talar neck fracture in a five-year-old child leading to a delayed presentation of a symptomatic osteochondral loose body in the ankle joint. To our knowledge there are no reports in the literature of osteochondral loose bodies occurring in conjunction with an associated undisplaced talar neck fracture in either children or adults. The loose body was removed using anterior ankle arthroscopy. The child had an uneventful post operative recovery and regained full range of movement and function of his ankle joint and was discharged at one year follow-up. We aim to highlight the need to have a low threshold to further evaluate symptomatic children after fracture healing of an undisplaced talar neck fracture for a possible associated loose body in the ankle joint.
authors.affiliation: Vishal Patel, Benjamin Bloch, Nicholas Johnson, Jitendra Mangwani, Department of Trauma and Orthopedics, Musculoskeletal Directorate, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester LE1 5WW, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Vishal
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Vishal Patel, Benjamin Bloch, Nicholas Johnson, Jitendra Mangwani, Department of Trauma and Orthopedics, Musculoskeletal Directorate, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester LE1 5WW, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bloch
authors.affiliation: Vishal Patel, Benjamin Bloch, Nicholas Johnson, Jitendra Mangwani, Department of Trauma and Orthopedics, Musculoskeletal Directorate, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester LE1 5WW, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Vishal Patel, Benjamin Bloch, Nicholas Johnson, Jitendra Mangwani, Department of Trauma and Orthopedics, Musculoskeletal Directorate, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester LE1 5WW, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jitendra
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mangwani
keywords: Ankle arthroscopy; Children; Fracture; Loose body; Talus