Treatment of Talar Osteochondral Lesions Using Local Osteochondral Talar Autograft – Long Term Results

Osteochondral lesion of the talus (OLT) is a broad term used to describe an injury or abnormality of the talar articular cartilage and adjacent bone. A variety of terms have been used to refer to this clinical entity including osteochondritis dissecans, osteochondral fracture, and osteochondral defect. Whether OLT of the talus is a precursor to more generalized arthrosis of the ankle remain unclear, but the condition is often symptomatic enough to warrant treatment. Above one third of cases conservative treatment is not successful and a surgery is indicated. Several surgical options have been described including: debridement, isolated or combined with drilling, excision and curettage, abrasion arthroplasty, microfracture technique arthroscopically or not, internal fixation with screws, autologous chondrocyte implantation and implantation of osteochondral autograft using single or multiple cylinders of articular cartilage and subchondral bone. The optimal solution remains uncertain. Furthermore smaller lesions are symptomatic and untreated OCDs can progress, current treatment strategies have not solved the problem The goal of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the long-term results of 23 patients who underwent local osteochondral talar autograft for the treatment of OLT.