Arthrodesis of the Ankle.

Arthrodesis of the Ankle. Acta Chir Orthop Traumatol Cech. 2017;84(1):13-23 Authors: Zwipp H Abstract About 90 % of all cases of painful posttraumatic ankle arthritis can be very successfully treated with a minor invasive ankle arthrodesis technique by using a small anterior approach and a fixation with four 6. 5 mm screws of which the posteromedial and transfibular one are inserted percutaneously. The results with this standardized procedure have been reported previously as excellent and good in a mid-term run of 6 years (34). This technique leads to a high union rate of 99% (92 of 93) with rapid bone healing within 8 ± 2 weeks, it causes a low minor complication rate of 8 % and enables a significant increase of the AOFAS ankle/hindfoot score (17) from 36 preoperatively to 85 postoperatively as well as a midtarsal movement of 24° ± 16°. In some cases of ankle arthritis due to chronic syndesmotic instability a 5th screw is additionally used to compress the reamed espace claire for regaining a stable ankle fork. A 5th screw is used also in case of necessary shortening of the fibula or in cases of idiopathic ankle arthritis with gross varus deformity when a transfibular approach becomes necessary instead of the anterior approach. About 10% of ankle arthrodesis need different procedures like in cases of malunited ankle or pilon fractures with low grade infection, larger bony defects due to resection of necrotic bone, due to primary ...
Source: Acta Chirurgiae Orthopaedicae et Traumatologiae Cechoslovaca - Category: Orthopaedics Tags: Acta Chir Orthop Traumatol Cech Source Type: research