Joint Distraction in Advanced Osteoarthritis of the Ankle.

BACKGROUND Ankle joint distraction (AJD) avoids the potential complications associated with ankle fusion or total ankle replacement (TAR) in patients with advanced ankle osteoarthritis (OA). AJD could a tenable option to ankle fusion or TAR. METHODS A review has been performed on the role of AJD in advanced OA of the ankle. The exploration machine was MedLine. The keywords utilized were: joint distraction ankle. Three hundred and eleven articles were found. Of the above-mentioned, only 14 were chosen and analyzed because they were rigorously focused on the issue and the question of this paper. RESULTS The types of articles published until now have a poor level of evidence (levels III and IV). The overall number of patients managed until now by way of AJD is 249. The published mean follow-up is very variable, from 1 year to 12 years. CONCLUSION The rate of good outcomes ranged between 73% and 91%. The percentage of failure (final ankle arthrodesis or TAR) ranged between 6.2% and 44%. A minimum of 5.8 mm of distraction gap must be achieved. Ankle function after AJD deteriorates over time. Putting together ankle movement and distraction will result in an early and maintained profitable influence on outcome.