Measuring the Medial Clear Space in Uninjured Adult Ankles: Agreement With CT and Interobserver Reliability of Common Measurement Methods.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The medial clear space (MCS) is a radiographic proxy for the ankle mortise used to determine the need for surgical intervention for ankle fractures. Several measurement methods have been described but no consensus exists on which method is most appropriate to guide clinical care. Our objective was to assess commonly used measurement methods to determine which was most accurate and reliable for measuring the MCS on nonweightbearing and weightbearing studies.

Methods

Imaging of 34 morphologically normal, uninjured patients was reviewed. Paired radiographs and computed tomography (CT) scans, 17 nonweightbearing and 17 weightbearing, were measured by 5 observers. Three different methods were used to measure the MCS on each radiograph and 1 method on CT. CT was used as

SUBMITTER: Guild TT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12647539 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature