Clinical Outcomes of Osteochondral Lesions of the Tibial Plafond Following Arthroscopic Microfracture

CATEGORY: Ankle, Arthroscopy INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE: There is little data regarding osteochondral lesions of the tibial plafond with only a few studies reporting clinical outcomes after arthroscopic treatment. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical outcomes and the level of sports activities following arthroscopic microfracture for osteochondral lesions of the tibial plafond. METHODS: A retrospective review was conducted for all patients who underwent arthroscopic microfracture surgery for ankle osteochondral lesions from January 2014 to June 2017. For functional evaluation, the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) pain score, Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM) score, and Short Form-12 (SF-12) general health questionnaire were used. We also investigated the level of sports activity before and after the surgery. RESULTS: 16 patients were included in the study, and the mean follow-up period was 29.8 months. The mean FAAM score was significantly improved from 57.6 (range, 6.0-88.9) for the activities of daily living subscale and 34.5 (range, 3.1-92.6) for the sports subscale to 84.3 (range, 46.4-100.0) and 65.2 (range, 23.3-55.1) for each subscale respectively at the final follow-up. There were also significant improvements in SF-12 score, from 36.3 (range, 23.3- 55.1) to 46.0 (range, 18.9-56.6) for SF-12 PCS, and from 41.3 (range, 14.2-65.0) to 52.6 (range, 32.8-60.8) for SF-12 MCS at the final follow-up. Although 16 of 16 (100%) were able to return to their sports activity, the level of sports activity was lower than their level before the surgery. CONCLUSION: Arthroscopic microfracture provided satisfactory clinical outcomes for osteochondral lesions of the tibial plafond. Though one hundred percentage of patients were able to return to sports activity after the surgery, the level of sports activity was lower than their level before the surgery.