gms | German Medical Science

Objectives: The arthroscopic synovectomy in PWH, with impigment between the tibia and the astragalus has advantages over the open surgery: it is less traumatic, paintuful and facilitates rehabilitation. The objective of this work is to show the complications of this procedure in our treatment group.

Study Design & methods: Surgery were performed in 28 patients with 30 ankles that presented anterior ankle osteophyte. Arthroscopy synovectomy was performed in all cases.

Results: The 93% of the cases, showed good evolutions without adverse effects. We observed two (7%) complications:One, was observed in a 26-year-old patient that six months after surgery consulted for a tumor that throbbed in the anterior face of the ankle. The ultrasound showed a pseudoaneurysm of the anterior tibial artery.The second case, was a 30 year-old patient with advanced ankle haemophilic arthropathy, intra-articularcysts and marked osteophytes. Two weeks after surgery, abruptly, the patient lost ankle mobility.Both patients were operated again.In the first patient, an artery stent was placed in the anterior tibial artery.The second patient, a bone fragment of intra articular cartilage blocked the joint movement. This patientwas sugically treated and the fragment was removed and mobility was recovered

Conclusions: To avoid arterial pseudo aneurysm, it's appropriate to perform a preoperative doppler ultrasound to see the relation of the anterior tibial artery to the arthroscopic portals. To avoid joint blockage by freefragments, an abundant joint wash must be performed before the arthroscopic procedure is completed. Both complications were quickly detected and treated.