Patient satisfaction and function after bilateral ankle arthrodeses.

BACKGROUND: The optimum way to manage patients with bilateral ankle arthritis (AA) is unclear. METHODS: This review was performed to report the midterm satisfaction and functional outcome of a series of patients who have undergone bilateral staged ankle arthrodesis. RESULTS: Eight patients, median age 68.5 yrs (range 59-80) were followed-up for a median of 58.5 months (range 24-100). All fusions united in a median time of 12.8 weeks (range 10-19) Their median AOFAS hindfoot score was 79.5 (range 71-90). Six patients (75%) were very satisfied, one was satisfied, and the other neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. Two patients developed symptomatic subtalar arthritis requiring subtalar fusion. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to report the outcome of bilateral AA independent to that of unilateral AA. Bilateral AA appears to give patients a good functional result with high patient reported satisfaction into the medium term.