Background: There have been limited data in the literature reporting the results of osteochondral autografting for osteochondral lesions of the talus that have failed arthroscopic treatment.
Hypothesis: Osteochondral autografting can produce significant clinical improvement and a high rate of healing of osteochondral defects of the talus that have failed arthroscopic treatment.
Study design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 4.
Methods: Between 1998 and 2003, 35 patients (18 men, 17 women) with osteochondral talar lesions for which arthroscopic excision, curettage, and drilling had failed, underwent mosaicplasty with an osteochondral graft harvested from the ipsilateral talar articular facet. A malleolar osteotomy or a tibial wedge osteotomy was used for central or posterior lesions that could not otherwise be reached. The mean age of the patients was 30.9 years, and the mean follow-up was 48.9 months.
Results: The American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society Ankle Hindfoot scale score in patients without osteotomy rose by 39 points (P = .0001); with malleolar osteotomy, by 30.1 points (P = .017); with tibial wedge osteotomy, by 34.9 points (P = .0002); and with the posterolateral approach, by 32 points. The Wilcoxon test revealed a significant difference between patients without and with osteotomy (P <or= .027) and between patients with malleolar and tibial wedge osteotomies (P = .046). There were no patients with nonunion or malunion in the osteotomy groups. The score values corresponded with the subjective patient evaluation. The Spearman coefficient of correlation was .89.
Conclusion: Osteochondral autografting with tibial wedge osteotomy is a good alternative to malleolar osteotomy in osteochondral talar lesions that have failed arthroscopic treatment and that cannot be reached in spite of a forced plantar flexion of the ankle. Patients with small osteochondral lesions accessible through an anterior approach without additional osteotomy have the best prognostic factors.