Return to sport after surgery for osteochondral lesions of the talar dome. Results of a multicenter prospective study on 58 patients.

INTRODUCTION: Osteochondral lesions of the talar dome (OLTD) are most often found in patients for whom the return to sports activities is the main issue. Two types of surgery have been distinguished at present, bone marrow stimulation techniques and mosaicplasty techniques. The size of the lesion indicating the need for bone marrow stimulation as the required surgical procedure has recently been decreased (<1cm). The main objective of this study was therefore to evaluate the return to sport after OLTD surgery. Our hypothesis is that surgery of osteochondral lesions of the talar dome allows the resumption of sports activities in the majority of cases. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This multicenter prospective study was conducted across 10 French centers specializing in foot and ankle surgery. All patients aged 18 to 65 with symptomatic OLTD resistant to thorough medical treatment for at least 6 months, justifying surgery, were included from June 2018 to September 2019. In addition to the usual demographic data, the practice of sport and level (professional, competitive, leisure) were systematically investigated preoperatively. A common protocol for surgical management and postoperative follow-up had previously been established according to the arthrographic stage of the lesion. The most recent recommendations based on size, but also depth, were taken into account. The primary endpoint was return to sport. RESULTS: A final functional evaluation with the AOFAS (American Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Society) score was performed at a minimum of 12 months. Of 58 sports patients, 70.6% returned to sport (41/58) with an average delay of 4.3 months. A high AOFAS functional score (p=0.02) and a stage 1 lesion (p=0.006) were the only preoperative criteria significantly associated with a return to sport. No other factor was predictive of a return to sport. CONCLUSION: Our prospective study shows that 70.6% of sports patients returned to sport after OLTD surgery according to a surgical protocol and standardized follow-up. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II.

Proposal of a new CT arthrographic classification system of osteochondral lesions of the talus.

BACKGROUND: Surgical treatment of osteochondral lesions of the talus (OLT) is warranted if medical treatments fail, achieving good results in around 85% of cases. Numerous classification systems, based on all possible imaging modalities (radiography, MRI, CT scan, scintigraphy, and CT arthrography), have been proposed to guide surgical treatments, but none has proven to be superior. A recent study demonstrated the prognostic value of CT arthrography by accurately describing the subchondral bone plate. A systematic review of the literature has brought new criteria to predict good outcome following bone marrow stimulation surgical techniques: lesions should measure less than 1 centimeter in size and 5 millimeters in depth. Based on these data, we are proposing a new simple, 3-stage CT arthrographic classification system of OLT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: After a brief overview of the classification, 60 CT-arthrographies of ankles with OLT were organized according to this new CT arthrographic classification system by four surgeons (two juniors and two seniors). Two imaging assessments were performed one month apart. Statistical analysis was performed using the Fleiss' kappa coefficient to determine the inter- and intraobserver agreement. RESULTS: An excellent inter- and intraobserver agreement was found with overall Fleiss' kappa coefficients of 0.897 and 0.847, respectively. CONCLUSION: The results of our study showed an excellent inter- and intraobserver agreement for this new CT arthrographic classification system of OLT. The principal advantage of this new classification system, based on the latest data in the literature, is its ability to easily distinguish lesions that are more amenable to bone marrow stimulation techniques. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II.

Radiological study of the knee joint line position measured from the fibular head and proximal tibial landmarks.

Restoring the joint line level is one of the surgical challenges during revision of total knee arthroplasty. The position of the tibial surface is commonly estimated by its distance to the apex of fibular head, but no study evaluating this distance accurately has been published yet. The purpose of this work was to study the distance between the knee joint line and the apex of the fibular head and the proximal tibia, particularly the tibial tuberosity. Variability with clinical data and relations with other local measurements have been evaluated on knee radiographs (an antero-posterior view, a medio-lateral view and an anteroposterior full length view) of 100 subjects (125 knees). Results showed no correlation between the joint line-fibular head apex distance and any clinical data of the patients, or any other performed measurements. Relations between tibial measurements and the sexe or the height of the subjects were noted. Besides, the review of the 25 bilateral cases did not show statistically significant side difference but the descriptive analysis showed too large discrepancies for the joint line-fibular head apex distance to be used as a landmark. We conclude that the fibular head apex cannot be used as a morphologic landmark to determine the knee joint line position. Its interest in clinical and surgical practice must be discussed.