Outcomes and Complications of Open Versus Posterior Arthroscopic Subtalar Arthrodesis: A Prospective Randomized Multicenter Study

CATEGORY: Hindfoot; Other INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE: There remains a controversy for treatment of subtalar joint arthritis. Both open and arthroscopic techniques have been reported for successful treatment of subtalar arthritis; however, there is a little evidence to report prospective comparative outcomes between the two techniques. The purpose of this study was to compare clinical and functional outcomes including complications between the two techniques. METHODS: A prospective, randomized collected data of 54 consecutive patients who were diagnosed with isolated subtalar joint arthritis and underwent either open (27 patients) or posterior arthroscopic (27 patients) subtalar arthrodesis between 2015 and 2019 in 2 institutions. A minimum follow-up to be included in the study was 12 months (mean, 24.2 months; range, 12 to 41 months). The primary outcome was union time. The secondary outcomes included visual analogue scale (VAS), Short Form-36 (SF-36), and FAAM, union rate, time to return to activity of daily living, sports, work, and complications. Pre- and post-operative SF-36, FAAM, and pain (Visual Analog Scale) were obtained and compared between the two groups using independent t-test and the same group with paired t-test. RESULTS: There were 54 patients (42 male and 12 female) with mean age of 43.7 years (range, 21-68 years) and mean BMI of 25.7 kg/m2 (range, 18.3-33.6 kg/m2). Both techniques demonstrated significant improvement of post-operative functional outcomes (VAS, SF-36, and VAS (<em>p</em> < 0.001 all)) compared to pre-operative period; however, there was no significant difference between the two groups. The secondary outcomes between open and arthroscopic groups were time to return to activity of daily living (8.4 vs 10.8 weeks), works (10.6 vs 12.9 weeks), sports (24.9 vs 32.7 weeks), time to union using CT scan (9.4 vs 12.8 weeks), union rate (100% versus 96.3%), and complications included painful hardware (18.5% vs 22.2%), paresthesia (0 vs 7.4%), and no infection in both groups. CONCLUSION: Both open and arthroscopic techniques were demonstrated significant improvement in terms of functional outcomes as measured with the FAAM, SF-36, and VAS in patients with subtalar joint arthritis. Although there was no significant difference of short-term of functional outcomes measurement and complications, arthroscopic technique was better in term of fasten recovery time and time to union.