Quality of life 20 years after arthrodesis of the ankle

Abstract

biotalar fusion is considered to be the standard treatment for end-stage post-traumatic arthritis of the ankle. We report a retrospective, objective long-term study of the quality of life of 17 patients with 18 arthrodeses of the ankle, over a period of more than 20 years. We looked particularly for correlation between clinical and radiological signs of osteoarthritis in adjoining joints. At serial physical examinations, clinical grades were awarded according to the Olerud Molander Ankle (OMA) score. Any degree of degenerative change in the adjoining joints was recorded on standing radiographs. Patients filled out a SF-36 Health Survey form. Subjectively, 50% of patients were not handicapped in the performance of daily activities and 44% were in the same job as at the time of injury. At follow-up the mean OMA score was 59.4 points, the visual analogue scale was 1.99 and the radiological score was 2.7. The SF-36 for physical function, emotional disturbance and bodily pain revealed significant deficits. There was a significant correlation between the OMA and the radiological score (p = 0.05), and between the clinical and the SF-36 score (p = 0.01), but no significant correlation between the radiological score and the SF-36 score. Arthrodesis of the ankle leads to deficits in the functional outcome, to limitations in the activities of daily living and to radiological changes in the adjoining joints. The clinical outcome score correlates closely with the SF-36 score.

Arthroscopic assisted ankle arthrodesis: A retrospective study of 32 cases

“…Out of 28 included patients, 18 were males, and 10 were females. Preoperative diagnosis was post-traumatic osteoarthritis in the majority of cases (19), followed by primary osteoarthritis (6), inflammatory arthropathy (2), and avascular necrosis of talus (1) case ( Table 2). The average pre-operative symptoms' duration was 15.9 months.…”

“…Subtalar degenerative changes are commonly seen in patients following ankle fusion, less common talonavicular, and rarely calcaneocuboid degenerative changes are seen. [18][19][20] We have compared some parameters of our study with another similar study from the literature. Winson (Table 4).…”

Total Ankle Arthroplasty in Patients with Hereditary Hemochromatosis

“…However, short-and longterm problems for patients with ankle fusions have been described [19,21,22,26]. One such problem is the development of degenerative changes in the adjacent joints [8]. Therefore, bilateral ankle fusion may not be the most suitable treatment option, given its detrimental influence on gait and functional ability of patients.…”

“…For three patients (Cases 6,8,20), percutaneous lengthening of the Achilles tendon was performed. In one patient (Case 19), a TKA prosthesis was implanted on the contralateral side.…”

“…This procedure reportedly relieves pain but reduces functional ability of patients with posttraumatic ankle arthritis [5] and can cause progression of degenerative changes in neighboring joints [5,8].…”