2006 Ankle Replacement Surgery

Description: Ankle replacement surgery has been available for over two decades; however, it is a far less common procedure than hip or knee arthroplasty owing to the less frequent incidence of osteoarthritic ankle pathology. The majority of ankle osteoarthritis is secondary to trauma. Unlike idiopathic osteoarthritis this tends to occur in the younger patient. Until relatively recently, ankle joint arthrodesis was the gold standard of treatment, but this is not without its complications, e.g. non-union, osteoarthritis in the other mid/hind foot joints and stiffness and loss of proprioception. Early ankle arthroplasty prostheses had high failure rates; however, new designs and studies with longer term results have brought ankle replacement surgery into the limelight as a viable alternative for a select group of patients.
Tim McBride Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 2006 July; 88(4): 417–418. Full text