ATFL All Inside Arthroscopic Repair: Clinical and Functional Outcomes

CATEGORY: Arthroscopy INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE: The arthroscopic techniques used to treat chronic lateral ankle instability have developed greatly in recent years. The purpose of this work is to present clinical and functional results of patients with chronic ankle instability submitted to surgical treatment by all-inside arthroscopic repair of the anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL). METHODS: This is a series of cases of 18 consecutive patients who underwent the all-inside arthroscopic ATFL repair technique, a surgical treatment for chronic lateral ligament instability of the ankle, after the failure of conservative treatment performed for 6 months. The evaluation was made using the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Score (AOFAS), visual analog pain scale (VAS), anterior drawer and talar tilt tests. Surgical complications and patient satisfaction indices were also evaluated. RESULTS: All 18 patients were evaluated for a mean follow-up period of 12 months. There was an improvement in the AOFAS (p< 0.001), with the mean improving from 69.6 points to 98.1, and in the mean VAS score, from 5.0 to 0.5 points (p < 0.001). All ankles were stable, as assessed by the anterior drawer test and talar tilt test. The only complication found was neurapraxia of the superficial fibular nerve in one patient (5%). All of the patients classified the treatment as good or excellent and returned to daily and sports activities without limitations. CONCLUSION: Treatment of chronic ankle ligament instability by the all inside arthroscopic ATFL repair technique was able to restore ankle stability and showed good clinical results and high satisfaction rates.