Endoscopic Treatment of Insertional Achilles Tendinopathy

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcome of endoscopic treatment of insertional Achilles tendinopathy. Patient and Methods: This prospective study was held on 15 patients suffered from insertional achilles tendinopathy at Alazhar University Hospitals. There were 7 males and 8 females with mean age 46.27 years (28 to 60 years). Clinical examination, lateral weightbearing Xray of ankle and MRI of ankle were done for all patients. All patients were evaluated preoperatively and postoperatively by AOFAS hindfoot scale with mean follow up 6 months. Results: The Mean Preoperative AOFAS hindfoot scale of 15 patients in this study was 58.2 (36 to 80) and mean postoperative AOFAS hindfoot scale after 6 months follow up was 86.53 (67 to 97) with P value (.001). There were 3 patients with postoperative scar tenderness. There was neither sural nerve injury nor achilles tendon rupture during follow up period. Conclusion: Endoscopic treatment of insertional achilles tendinopathy had a lot of advantages as being safe and efficient procedure with small incision and cosmetic scar. This technique also could avoid catastrophic complications of open procedures in the form of wound dehiscence, ugly scar and affection of Achilles tendon insertion.