Arthroscopic Bone Marrow Stimulation for the Treatment of Osteochondral Lesions of the Talus Shows Promising Clinical Outcomes Over 10 Years

CATEGORY: Arthroscopy; Ankle INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE: Arthroscopic bone marrow stimulation (BMS) has been considered as the 1st-line treatment for osteochondral lesions of the talus (OLT) with its simplicity, cost-effectiveness, low complication rate and successful clinical results in numerous studies. However, there were few studies which had investigated long-term clinical outcomes about the arthroscopic BMS. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the long-term outcomes of arthroscopic BMS for OLT and to identify prognostic factors that affect the outcomes. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed for 202 ankles (189 patients) who underwent arthroscopic BMS as a primary surgery for the OLT between January 2001 and December 2008 with more than 10 years of follow-up. Visual analog scale (VAS) and American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle-hindfoot scales, Foot and Ankle Outcome Score (FAOS) were assessed as clinical outcomes and re-operation data were collected. The clinical scores were compared along the stream of time. Kaplan-Meier plot and log rank test showed survival outcomes of OLT in the long-term follow-up. Factors associated with revision surgery were evaluated with multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression model. RESULTS: The VAS scales were improved from 7.11 +- 1.73 (preoperatively) to 1.51 +- 1.61 (3 to 6 years after BMS), and 2.00 +- 1.67 (over 10 years after BMS) (P < 0.001). Also the AOFAS ankle-hindfoot scale were also improved from 58.39 +- 13.7373 (preoperatively) to 85.85 +- 10.31 (3 to 6 years after BMS), and 82.56 +- 11.62 (over 10 years after BMS) (P < 0.001). FAOS at final follow-up was compatible with those of other literatures with short- and mid-term follow-up. Re-operation rate was 5.94 % (12 / 202 ankles). According to multivariate regression analysis, significant factors associated with the revision surgery were large- size (greater than 150mm2) OLT (P = 0.009) and body mass index greater than 25 kg/m2 (P = 0.014). CONCLUSION:: Arthroscopic bone marrow stimulation is an effective and reliable operative procedure for the primary treatment of osteochondral lesions of the talus with favorable long-term outcomes at a mean follow-up of 13.9 years. Therefore, we recommend this procedure for the 1st-line treatment of the OLT. Success of arthroscopic BMS depends on the size of the OLT and the body mass index of patients.