OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the epidemiology of ankle fractures surgically treated at the Instituto de Ortopedia e Traumatologia do Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade de São Paulo.METHODS: Medical records of patients admitted with foot and ankle fractures between 2006 and 2011 were revised. Seventy three ankle fractures that underwent surgical treatment were identified. The parameters analyzed included age, gender, injured side, AO and Gustilo & Anderson classification, associated injuries, exposure, need to urgent treatment, time to definitive treatment and early post-operative complications. Study design: retrospective epidemiological study.RESULTS: Male gender was predominant among subjects and the mean age was 27.5 years old. Thirty nine fractures resulted from traffic accidents and type B fracture according to AO classification was the most common. Twenty one were open fractures and 22 patients had associated injuries. The average time to definitive treatment was 6.5 days. Early post-operative complications were found in 21.3% of patients.CONCLUSIONS: Ankle fractures treated in a tertiary hospital of a large city in Brazil affect young people victims of high-energy accidents and present significant rates of associated injuries and post-operative complications. Level of Evidence IV, Cases Series.

O aumento do conteúdo de fibras colágenas no coração de diabéticos é um fato bastante conhecido, suas conseqüências ainda são objeto de estudo e causam certa controvérsia, portanto este trabalho objetivou estudar a variação na quantidade das fibras de colágeno cardíacas em animais normais e diabéticos tratados pela vitamina C. Para isso foram selecionados 32 ratos Wistar, 16 diabéticos induzidos pela injeção endovenosa de estreptozootocina e 16 normais, sendo metade deles tratados com Vitamina C (diabéticos e normais) por um período de 90 dias. Após período experimental, os corações foram retirados e processados segundo protocolo convencional para microscopia óptica e coloração específica para colágeno. Os resultados mostram que animais diabéticos apresentam maior quantidade de fibras de colágeno cardíacas e que o tratamento com a vitamina C determinou um menor acúmulo na quantidade dessas fibras.

The increase of heart collagen fibers in diabetics is a well known fact, but the consequences are not defined. The aim was to quantify the cardiac collagen fibers in normal and diabetic rats treated with vitamin C. We selected 32 Wistar rats, 16 diabetic animals induced endovenously with streptozootocin, and 16 healthy animals, half of them, diabetics and normals, were treated with vitamin C for 90 days. After the experimental proceeding, the hearts were removed and processed accordingly to conventional protocol for optical microscopy and specific staining for collagen. The results showed that the diabetic rats presented increase in the number of cardiac collagen fibers, but the ones treated with vitamin C showed little accumulation of fibers. It could be concluded that treatment with vitamin C is important for the prevention of heart failure in diabetic animals.