TY  - JOUR
T1  - Conversion of Painful Ankle Arthrodesis to Total Ankle Arthroplasty
AU  - Hintermann, Beat
AU  - Barg, Alexej
AU  - Knupp, Markus
AU  - Valderrabano, Victor
Y1  - 2009/08/01
N1  - 
JO  - The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
SP  - 2044
EP  - 2044
VL  - 91
IS  - 8
N2  - 
At the time of the latest follow-up, any persisting pain laterally was localized to periarticular soft tissues. This finding can be best explained by the fact that most of the patients included in this study had had an average of 3.3 previous operations (range, zero to nine previous procedures). To exclude the possibility of subtalar arthritis or arthritis in other adjacent joints as the cause of pain, we recommend performing single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT-CT)1. In seven patients, pain was mainly localized in the medial aspect of the ankle at the time of the latest follow-up. The origin of this pain was irritation of periarticular soft tissues and not osseous impingement at the medial side of the ankle in patients in whom the mechanical axis had been restored. It is imperative that the tibial component and the heel are properly aligned with the mechanical axis of the leg. If the tibial component is implanted in a varus position, and/or the heel is in valgus, osseous impingement in the medial gutter was seen to occur.

SN  - 0021-9355
M3  - doi: 
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ER  -