Outcome after total ankle arthroplasty with a minimum of five years follow-up: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

BackgroundTotal ankle arthroplasty (TAA) is increasingly gaining recognition as an alternative to ankle arthrodesis in the treatment of end-stage ankle arthritis. Despite high rates of adverse events during early inception, newer generations of uncemented prosthesis and design modifications have improved outcomes. Questions remain regarding the long-term outcomes and implant survivorship of TAA. AimThis analysis aims to establish an updated review of intermediate and long-term clinical outcome and complication profile of TAA. Patients and methodsA multi database search was performed on 14th October 2018 according to PRISMA guidelines. All articles that involved patients undergoing uncemented TAA with 5 years minimum follow-up, reported clinical outcome or complication profile of TAA were included. Seventeen observational studies were included in the review, with 1127 and 262 ankles in the 5 and 10 years minimum follow-up groups respectively. ResultsMean difference between pre- and post-operative AOFAS score was 43.60 (95%CI: 37.51–49.69, p<0.001) at 5 years minimum follow-up. At 5 years minimum follow-up, pooled proportion (PP) of prostheses revision for any reason other than polyethylene exchange was 0.122 (95%CI: 0.084–0.173), all cause revision was 0.185 (95%CI: 0.131–0.256), unplanned reoperation was 0.288 (95%CI: 0.204–0.390) and all infection was 0.033 (95%CI: 0.021–0.051). At 10 years minimum follow-up, PP of prostheses revision for any reason other than polyethylene exchange was 0.202 (95%CI: 0.118–0.325), all cause revision was 0.305 (95%CI: 0.191–0.448), unplanned reoperation was 0.422 (95%CI: 0.260–0.603) and all infection was 0.029 (95%CI: 0.013–0.066). ConclusionDespite good intermediate and long-term functional outcome measures, TAA has relatively higher revision surgery prevalence with longer follow-up periods. Further research should be directed towards identifying patient populations that would best benefit from TAA and those at greatest risk of requiring revision surgery.