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Background and Objective: Quality of medical articles is effective at improvement of medical science. This study was done for determining of published medical articles quality in approved Medical Journals. Materials and Methods: This cross- sectional study was done on 690 medial articles, which published between 1983-2005 in scientific journals, approved by special Medical Journal committee of Ministry of health and medical Education (MOHME) in Iran, during 2007. Source of data was indexed medical journal in the Iranmedex database. Results: Type of study in 52% of articles was descriptive, 21.2% was interventional and 5.8% of them were analytical. In recent years the number of analytic and interventional articles have been increased significantly in comparison to other types (P<0.05). There was no qualitative type article in published papers. The percentages of original, case report and review articles were 44.9%, 36.9% and 14.1%, respectively. In recent years the rate of original articles has increased in comparison to case report and review articles (P<0.05). In 80% of articles, at least one statistical test was applied. 60% of articles were clinical and 82% of them have been written in Persian language. Conclusion: Findings showed an increasing trend in quality indexes of published articles. It seems in recent years, the changes of MOHME policies in evaluation of the research deputy of medical science universities implementation of research and scientific writing workshops ratting protocol of approved medical journals and academic members promotion guidelines, resulted in improvement qualitative index of articles.

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Background and Objective: Various surgical techniques, including Open Reduction and Internal Fixation (ORIF), Minimally Invasive Plate Osteosynthesis (MIPO), and External Fixation (EF), have been proposed for the tibial pilon fractures treatment. However, limited comparative data exist regarding the outcomes of these three methods. Despite advancements in surgical procedures, the outcomes have not consistently been excellent, and patients often experience numerous complications. This study aimed to evaluate the outcomes and complications of the tibial pilon fractures treatment in a six-month follow-up.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical prospective cohort study was conducted on 22 patients (18 men and 4 women; mean age=39.4±10.8 years) who presented with tibial pilon fractures at the Fifth Azar Educational-Therapeutic Center in Gorgan, Iran, from April 2020 to March 2022. All 22 eligible patients agreed to participate. Following the necessary treatment determined by the attending physician, patients were examined after six months, and their outcomes were evaluated using the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle score.
Results: The majority of fractures (54.5%) were of closed type. The surgical procedures performed included two-stage EF (40.9%), ORIF (31.8%), expert nailing (13.6%), and MIPO (13.6%), respectively. A total of 72.7% of patients experienced early or late postoperative complications. The most common postoperative complications were osteoarthritis and wound dehiscence, occurring at a rate of 18.2% each. The mean AOFAS score for patients was 82.3±11.2. AOFAS scores were classified as excellent in 4 patients (18.18%), good in 12 patients (54.55%), moderate in 4 patients (18.18%), and poor in 2 patients (9.09%). A statistically significant inverse correlation was observed between the mean surgical time and the AOFAS score (r=−0.661, P=0.001). Furthermore, a statistically significant direct correlation was found between the mean surgical time and the mean length of hospital stay (r=0.571, P=0.006). Surgical time for patients undergoing MIPO (68.3±7.6 minutes) was significantly shorter than that of the other three methods (P<0.05). For open fractures, the frequency of ORIF was significantly higher than that of other procedures (P<0.05). Osteoarthritis was observed as a treatment complication in both expert nailing and two-stage EF interventions. In contrast, non-union and wound dehiscence complications were exclusively observed following ORIF. Superficial infection and mal-union were only observed after two-stage EF, and all instances of deep infection occurred with MIPO.
Conclusion: Two-stage EF and ORIF were the most common surgical techniques employed for patients with tibial pilon fractures. Worse postoperative complications, including non-union and wound dehiscence, commonly occurred in ORIF procedures. However, there was no statistically significant difference in patient-reported outcomes based on the AOFAS self-report questionnaire among the various surgical techniques.