Clinical and Radiological Outcomes of Transfibular Total Ankle Arthroplasty at 2-years Follow-up

• Main Authors: Francesco Granata MD, Camilla Maccario MD, Luigi Manzi MD, Eric Tan MD, Federico Giuseppe Usuelli MD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2018-09-01
• Series: Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/2473011418S00059

Category: Ankle Arthritis Introduction/Purpose: Ankle arthritis is a highly limiting pathology that causes pain and functional limitation with subsequent deterioration of quality of life. With recent advances in surgical instrumentation and techniques, prosthetic replacement of the ankle has proved to be a valid alternative to arthrodesis with comparable outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate clinical and radiological findings in a transfibular total ankle replacement with two years follow-up. Methods: This prospective study included 59 patients who underwent transfibular total ankle arthroplasty from May 2013 to December 2015. The mean age was 51.6 ± 13.4 years. All patients were followed for at least 24 months postoperative with an average follow-up of 42.0 ± 23.5 months. Patients were assessed clinically and radiologically preoperatively and at 6, 12, and 24 months postoperatively. Results: At 24 months, patients demonstrated statistically significant improvement in the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society score from 33.6 to 88.1 (P<0.01), VAS scale from 79.3 to 14.0 (P<0.01) and SF-12 Physical and Mental Composite Scores from 29.9 and 44.6 to 74.4 and 95.3, respectively (P<0.01). Ankle dorsiflexion and plantarflexion improved from 5.5 and 8.8 degrees to 24.2 and 20.0 degrees, respectively (P<0.01). Radiographically, patients demonstrated neutral alignment of the ankle with a tibio-talar ratio of 34.9 ± 9.2 and hindfoot alignment view angle of 1.2 ± 7.0 degrees. No patient demonstrated any radiographic evidence of tibial or talar lucency at 24 months. Seven patients underwent reoperation for removal of symptomatic hardware; one patient developed a postoperative prosthetic infection requiring placement of an antibiotic spacer. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that transfibular total ankle replacement is a safe and effective option for the patients for ankle arthritis with improvements in patient-reported outcomes, range of motion, and radiological parameters. However, further studies are required to determine the mid- and long-term performance of these implants.