Outcomes of Total Ankle Arthroplasty in Postfracture Ankle Arthritis.

BACKGROUND

Ankle arthritis that develops after fracture accounts for a significant portion of ankle arthritis necessitating total ankle arthroplasty (TAA). It remains unknown whether TAA in postfracture patients produces equivalent outcomes to those without fracture history. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the medium-term outcomes of TAA in postfracture ankle arthritis compared to those without fracture history.

METHODS

This study reviewed 178 ankles from 171 consecutive patients who underwent TAA in our institution between 2007 and 2017 and completed a minimum 5-year follow-up. Four different TAA systems were utilized by 6 surgeons. Based on fracture history, patients were divided into 2 groups: the postfracture group (n = 63; median age 65.7 years; median follow-up 5.9 years) and the nonfracture group (n = 115; median age 64.4 years; median follow-up 6.2 years). Types and rates of complications including revision and reoperation were compared. Minimum 5-year Foot and Ankle Outcome Score (FAOS) and postoperative improvement were investigated. A subgroup analysis was performed to determine whether outcomes differ between intraarticular fracture patients (n = 43) and extraarticular fracture patients (n = 20).

RESULTS

Both groups exhibited comparable postoperative improvement and final FAOS scores. The postfracture group had a significantly higher reoperation rate than the nonfracture group (20 of 63, 31.7%, vs 17 of 115, 14.8%;

CONCLUSION

In this single-center, retrospective comparative study, we found total ankle arthroplasty in patients with a history of fractures around the ankle joint had no evidence of statistical difference in patient-reported outcomes and implant survivorship but led to a higher rate of nonrevision reoperation following surgery. In the much smaller subset of patients with previous fracture, we did not find that those with a history of intraarticular fracture had inferior outcomes after TAA when compared to those with a history of extraarticular fracture.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level III, case-control study.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. ICMJE forms for all authors are available online.