Incidence of Complications During the Surgeon Learning Curve Period for Primary Total Ankle Replacement

Results of Trabecular-Metal Total Ankle Arthroplasties With Transfibular Approach

“…It has been suggested that the overall rate of complications in TAA varies between 14% and 55%. 3,6,8,16,28,34 Respectively, the rates of intraoperative malleolar fracture vary between 3% and 9% 6,27 for medial and 0.05% and 2% for lateral malleolus. 25,36 The incidence of late lateral malleolar fractures has been estimated as 3.5%.…”

“…8,12 When using an anterior approach, the rates of intraoperative injuries of nerve or tendon have been defined as 0.5% to 15%, 22 with most of the studies having a rate of around 1%. 27,36 The main source of nerve injuries has been suggested to be surgeon inexperience. 27 In our institute we have previously done over 250 ankle arthroplasties from the anterior approach, but in 2013 we changed to this lateral approach so our learning curve with this novel technique is included in the present study.…”

“…27,36 The main source of nerve injuries has been suggested to be surgeon inexperience. 27 In our institute we have previously done over 250 ankle arthroplasties from the anterior approach, but in 2013 we changed to this lateral approach so our learning curve with this novel technique is included in the present study.…”

Blood Transfusion During Total Ankle Arthroplasty Is Associated With Increased In-Hospital Complications and Costs

“…14,25,27 This is an interesting finding as the reported learning curve for TAA beyond which complications and operative time decrease has been shown to be between 25 and 30 replacements. [37][38][39][40][41] While the NIS does not directly identify surgeon volume, it would be reasonable to think that lower volume TAA hospitals would correlate with lower volume surgeons and subsequently longer procedures and higher complication rates. Consistent with the THA literature, a nonsignificantly lower incidence of perioperative blood transfusions was found in teaching hospitals.…”

Experience with Navigation in Total Ankle Arthroplasty. Is It Worth the Cost?

“…The learning curve for a surgeon new to performing TAR appears to level off at approximately 25. 10 However, this phenomenon really reflects gross improvements in minimizing the negative effects of subjectivity and technical error early in one's experience with TAR. The learning curve for achieving outcome consistency across the nuanced breadth of challenges potentially facing an ankle arthroplasty surgeon is not well characterized.…”