Chronic Lateral Ankle Instability with Subtalar Instability: Does Lateral Ligaments Reconstruction Reliable?

CATEGORY: Ankle; Arthroscopy; Sports INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE: To evaluate the functional outcomes of arthroscopic anatomical reconstruction of anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) and calcaneofibular ligament (CFL) in the treatment of chronic lateral ankle instability with subtalar instability during short term follow-up METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data in 8 patients (5 males, 3 females; 2 left ankles, 6 right ankles) aged between 21 and 49 years, with an average age of 31.74 +- 8.48 years presenting with CLAI with subtalar instability from Auguse 2015 to October 2018. The duration of the symptoms lasted for 12 to 43 months, with an average of 24.26 +- 10.17 months. All patients underwent arthroscopic anatomical reconstruction of ATFL and CFL. Pre- and postoperative visual analogue scales (VAS), the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society Ankle-Hindfoot Score (AOFAS) and the Karlsson Ankle Functional Score (KAFS) were compared to evaluate the curative effect of the operation RESULTS: After surgery, all incisions healed in stage I and there were no complications. All patients were followed for 12 to 36 months, averaging 26.15 +- 9.34 months. At the final follow-up, the ankle varus stress test and ankle anterior drawer test were both negative. Range of joint motion was good. There was no lateral instability of the ankle and subtalar, and all patients returned to normal gait. The mean VAS score decreased to 1.06 +- 0.27, the AOFAS score increased to 93.16 +- 5.26 and the KAFS score increased to 92.01 +- 6.73. All the follow-up indexes were significantly different from those before surgery CONCLUSION: Arthroscopic anatomical reconstruction of ATFL and CFL in the treatment of chronic lateral ankle instability with subtalar instability is reliable in short term