ABSTRACT
Objective To discuss and summarize the effects of arthroscopic treatment of posterior ankle impingement syndrome.Methods The study enrolled 30 patients with posterior ankle impingement syndrome treated from January 2008 to November 2015.There were 18 males and 12 females,aged 19-58 years old (mean,37.6 years old).Right ankle injury was noted in 19 patients and left in 11 patients.A total of 27 patients had a history of obvious ankle injury (7 cases of acute sprains and 20 cases of chronic sprains).Arthroscopic surgery,including osteophyte removal,cartilage formation and joint clearance,was performed through the posterolateral and posteromedial approaches.Postoperative outcome was evaluated by using the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) scores and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores.Results All the patients were followed up for 8-27 months (mean,22 months).These patients got a good healing without nervous and vascular injuries.At the last follow up,the AOFAS score was (89.8 ± 3.8) points,significantly higher than before operation [(35.0 ± 10.1) points,t =-26.456,P =0.000].The VAS score was (2.5 ± 1.3) points,significantly lower than before operation [(6.6 ± 1.9) points,t =12.427,P =0.000].The ankle joint flexion angle was improved significantly from 29.4° ± 2.3° to 43.4° ± 1.4° as compared to preoperative status (t =-32.625,P =0.000).There were 21 cases of excellent result and 9 cases of good result,with an excellent and good rate of 100％.Conclusion Debridement and treatment of complications under arthroscopy is one of the effective methods for the posterior ankle impingement syndrome,which has advantages of minimal invasion,safety,targeted operation,and fast postoperative recovery.