My mother had a type III fracture of her talus and the surgeon decided to wait a few days before performing her surgery. Why would they make that choice and will this increase her rick of getting arthritis in the future?

In this study the timing of fracture fixation was at the discretion of the treating surgeon and usually this decision is associated with the severity of soft-tissue swelling. The decision to delay fixation is related to a lower rate of soft-tissue complications due to several factors including being able to undertake the ORIF procedure during the day when meticulous focus can be place on the accuracy of the reduction. It appears from this study that a delayed ORIF will not increase the likely hood of osteonecrosis, and that posttramautic arthritis may be more consistently associated with a talar body, tibial plafond, or calcaneal fracture than with the timing of the fixation.