Home Orthopedics Outcomes Similar for Total Ankle Replacement, Ankle Fusion in OA

Outcomes Similar for Total Ankle Replacement, Ankle Fusion in OA

No clinically or statistically significant difference seen in mean change in Manchester-Oxford Foot Questionnaire walking/standing domain scores

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Nov. 15, 2022 (HealthDay News) — For patients with end-stage ankle osteoarthritis, total ankle replacement (TAR) and ankle fusion (AF) have similar clinical scores and harms, according to a study published online Nov. 15 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Andrew J. Goldberg, M.B.B.S., from the UCL Institute of Orthopaedics & Musculoskeletal Science in London, and colleagues conducted a randomized trial to compare TAR to AF among patients with end-stage ankle osteoarthritis, aged 50 to 85 years. The primary outcome was change in Manchester-Oxford Foot Questionnaire walking/standing (MOXFQ-W/S) domain scores from baseline to 52 weeks after surgery.

Three hundred three patients were randomly assigned between March 6, 2015, and Jan. 10, 2019; clinical scores were analyzed for 281 participants. The researchers found that at 52 weeks, both groups had improvement in the mean MOXFQ-W/S scores. The adjusted difference in the change in MOXFQ-W/S score was −5.6 from baseline, with more improvement seen for TAR than AF; the difference was not clinically or statistically significant. A similar number of adverse events occurred between the groups (109 versus 104); more wound healing issues occurred in the TAR group, while the AF group had more thromboembolic events and nonunion. For AF, the symptomatic nonunion rate was 7 percent. In a post hoc analysis, the superiority of fixed-bearing TAR over AF was suggested (−11.1).

“Both TAR and AF improve patients’ MOXFQ-W/S scores at 52 weeks, but overall, neither procedure is superior in terms of clinical scores,” the authors write.

Editorial (subscription or payment may be required)

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.