Arthroscopic Syndesmotic Repair with Suture Tape Augmentation

CATEGORY: Arthroscopy; Ankle; Sports INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE: High ankle sprains or syndesmotic lesions can occur after an external rotation force in a dorsiflexed foot. These lesions may present isolated or combined with medial collateral ligaments lesions or fractures. Unstable lesions should be operatively treated since syndesmotic instability can cause pain, disability, chondral lesions and arthritis. A recent biomechanical cadaveric study suggested that syndesmosis suture button fixation with suture tape augmentation can restore stability to a pre injury level, while suture button alone was insufficient to restore stability and screw fixation was associated with overtightening of the syndesmosis. The purpose of this work is to describe a new minimally invasive arthroscopic technique that uses a synthetic tape to augment suture button fixation of syndesmotic instability. METHODS: After arthroscopic debridement of the syndesmosis, one bone tunnel is made with a 4.0mm drill at the anterolateral distal tibia rim and at the anterior distal fibula just above the anterior talofibular ligament origin. A 4,75mm swivelock armed with a fibertape (Arthrex(©)) is introduced at the distal fibula hole. After obtaining adequate syndesmotic reduction with the help of a reduction clamp, suture button fixation was made through a mini lateral access. The fibertape was then appropriately tensioned and inserted at the distal tibia hole with another 4,75mm swivelock. Adequate reduction was observed with the Mercedes-Benz sign and stability was confirmed arthroscopically. RESULTS: Only a few patients were submitted to this technique. At short follow up, none of them presented with complications or complaints CONCLUSION: We believe that unstable syndesmotic treatment using the suture button fixation and anterior inferior tibiofibular arthroscopic augmentation with suture-tape described in this work can restore syndesmotic stability to pre injury levels with low morbidity and lesser complication rates compared to other techniques. Nonetheless, comparative clinical studies are still needed to confirm our hypothesis.