Diagnostic Accuracy of Ultrasound Compared to Radiography among Patients with Ankle Fracture

Purpose: This study aimed to compare the accuracy of ultrasound with simple radiography in the diagnosis of ankle fracture due to an ankle sprain.

Methods: This study was performed on 36 patients with an ankle fracture due to an ankle sprain, Emergency Department of Besat Hospital, Tehran, Iran in 2016. Two diagnostic methods, including ultrasound, and radiography were compared with each other. Moreover, true positive, false positive, true negative, and false negative were evaluated in this study.

Results: According to the obtained results of both ultrasound and radiography tests, 94.4% and 5.5% of the patients were diagnosed without and with an ankle fracture, respectively. The value of sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound, compared to radiography approach was equal to 1 (CI: 0.09-1 and 0.85-1, respectively).

Conclusion: The accuracy of ultrasound was equal to one. This finding indicates that both ultrasound and radiography can be used as accurate instruments in the diagnosis of ankle fracture.