Clinical Radiographical Outcomes and Complications after a Brand-New Total Ankle Replacement Design through an Anterior Approach: A Retrospective at a Short-Term Follow Up

Recently, the progress in techniques and in projecting new prosthetic designs has allowed increasing indications for total ankle replacement (TAR) as treatment for ankle osteoarthritis. This retrospective work comprehended 39 subjects aged between 47 and 79 years old. The patients, observed for at least 12 months (mean follow up of 18.2 +/- 4.1 months), have been evaluated according to clinical and radiological parameters, both pre- and post-operatively. The AOFAS and VAS score significantly improved, respectively, from 46.2 +/- 4.8 to 93.9 +/- 4.1 and from 7.1 +/- 1.1 to 0.7 +/- 0.5 (p value < 0.05). At the final evaluation, the mean plantarflexion passed from 12.2 degrees +/- 2.3 degrees to 18.1 degrees +/- 2.4 degrees (p value < 0.05) and dorsiflexion from a pre-operative mean value of 8.7 degrees +/- 4.1 degrees to 21.7 degrees +/- 5.4 degrees post-operatively (p value < 0.05). This study found that this new total ankle replacement design is a safe and effective procedure for patients effected by end-stage ankle osteoarthritis. Improvements have been demonstrated in terms of range of motion, radiographic parameters and patient-reported outcomes. However, further studies are needed to assess the long-term performance of these prostheses.

Automated summary

The study found that the new total ankle replacement design is a safe and effective procedure for patients with end-stage ankle osteoarthritis, showing improvements in range of motion and related parameters. However, further long-term studies are needed to assess the durability of the prostheses.