Activity Level and Function 2 Years After Anterior Talofibular Ligament Repair: A Comparison Between Arthroscopic Repair and Open Repair Procedures

Abstract

When compared with open lateral ankle repair, arthroscopic repair of lateral ankle ligament when feasible produced similarly favorable outcomes. Arthroscopic ATFL repair, as a minimally invasive technique, provided favorable outcomes.

Arthroscopic Anatomical Repair of Anterior Talofibular Ligament for Chronic Lateral Instability of the Ankle: Medium‐ and Long‐Term Functional Follow‐Up

“…By comparing the data of 37 patients undergoing open Broström repair surgery and 23 patients undergoing arthroscopic Broström repair surgery, Li et al . found that there was no significant statistical difference in AOFAS, KAFS, and Tegner score between the two groups after a 2‐year follow‐up. It is believed that arthroscopic surgery can achieve the same effect as open surgery.…”

A comparison between arthroscopic and open surgery for treatment outcomes of chronic lateral ankle instability accompanied by osteochondral lesions of the talus

“…Although the open modified Brostrom-Gould procedure is currently the gold standard for chronic lateral ankle instability, the arthroscopic repair of ATFL is be- [19], which also suggested comparable therapeutic efficacy at 3-year follow-up. We noticed that the patients in Yeo, Li, and Rigby' studies [15,17,18] involved several different accompanying intra-articular pathologies such as synovitis, anterior tibial spur, loose body, and OLTs. Matsui [16] and Zeng [19], however, enrolled only the patients without intra-articular lesions.…”

“…Compared to the open surgery, the arthroscopic technique has a smaller skin incision and less subcutaneous dissection, which may consequently shorten the surgical time. Through the standard portal in the ankle arthroscopy, the blood vessels around the ATFL can also be well protected in order to facilitate the vascularization of the repaired ATFL [15]. Meanwhile, as a less invasive technique, the bleeding and postoperative adhesion of the arthroscopic technique in the ankle joint was lower than that of the open surgery.…”

“…For patients accompanied by OLT, the arthroscopic-assisted Brostrom technique makes concurrent arthroscopic treatment possible. Nevertheless, there are few reports that compared the all-arthroscopic technique with the combined arthroscopic and open treatment in patients of lateral ankle instability accompanied by OLT [15][16][17][18][19]. In view of this, we aimed to test the following hypothesis in the present study: The outcome of all-arthroscopic surgery is no worse than that of the combined open and arthroscopic surgery for treating chronic lateral ankle instability accompanied by OLT.…”

“…More recently, an arthroscopic-assisted Brostrom technique has become increasingly popular [8]. Several comparative studies have demonstrated similar clinical results between the arthroscopic procedure and the open modified Brostrom procedure [15][16][17][18][19]. For patients accompanied by OLT, the arthroscopic-assisted Brostrom technique makes concurrent arthroscopic treatment possible.…”