Anybody ever had this procedure done on an ankle ? Or know anyone that did it ? Curious to know the outcomes.

I have treated a handful over the years. Not very common at all. All have done really well.

What did you put them through?

aggiederelict - My understanding is that the options are either fusion or using some sort of artificial joint. I also get the impression that the fusion option limits mobility post-operation. Have you found that to be true ?

Bigjag19 - degenerative arthritis following surgery about 30 years ago.

My wife had one but had issues due to apparently being allergic to the polypropylene used. Had to have the hardware removed and the ankle fused.

The Kracken - How is your wife's mobility since the fusion procedure ? From the little bit that I've read, the fusion process greatly reduces the ability to walk, run or even ride a bike.

I would imagine fusion would hinder mobility that requires ankle movement. You are basically making one solid bone, no longer a joint.

Yes, mobility is limited. She can no longer go running. Can't point her foot to get into boots. Her mobility with the ankle replacement was about the same due to all the swelling issues she had.

Yeah fusion significantly impacts mobility in such a critical joint. If you can avoid it please do.

Just good ole PT with early mobilizations and tissue work as directed by the surgeon. Then progressive exercise but there are limitations on what you can get back to.

The Kracken - Did your wife initially have one of the other replacement procedures that didn't involve the fusion ? If so, I was wondering what kind of outlook the surgeon gave her regarding future mobility. Thanks for taking the time to provide answers. I think it's very helpful to visit with people that have direct experience with surgical procedures.

aggiederelict - Thanks for the reply. Are you a PT ?

I had a subtalar fusion 2 years ago. Yes it limits ankle mobility quite a bit but the pain is gone

Yes, she had the ankle replacement but it didn't work for her, likely due to her being allergic to the polypropylene insert. Her initial injury was due to a car accident while her foot was on the brake pedal and the force of the collision fractured and rotated the talus bone. That bone is tricky to heal due to limited blood supply and eventually collapsed, thus she elected to try the ankle replacement instead of the fusion.

The Kracken - That's a really tough situation for your wife. I hope she is recovering well. Do you think the ankle replacement option would have given her much better mobility ( vs. the fusion ) if she had been able to handle the polypropylene ?

Absolutely

Yes in Austin

I have an artificial ankle (actually on my 2nd one). Dr. McGarvey in Katy did them. The first one was replaced because the back of my joint ended up fusing together.

I had bone on bone pain and the replacement was the best solution for me.

I had an ankle replacement at the end of December 2017, and so far, I have been extremely pleased. *knocks on all the wood*

ETA some more details:

I put it off as long as I could, bc at the time, the doctor said it would be irresponsible for him to do an ankle replacement on someone my age, and bc of my active lifestyle, he didn't think I would be very happy w/a fusion. He did an ankle distraction, knowing it wasn't a permanent fix, but it did buy me several more years.

But, I "lived w/it," much longer than I should have, to the point where the ankle was about to roll off the joint. (Apparently, that can actually happen… But, it's usually in very old people, late 80s or 90s.) He said younger people were doing well w/replacements now, and we scheduled it immediately. He put an external fixator on in September 2017 to pull the bones back in alignment - It looked crooked, like a traumatic injury, but it was from the arthritis. The bone-on-bone had caused the bone to erode to that degree. Then a couple of months later, he removed the fixator, and about a month after that, he did the replacement.

Dr. William McGarvey did mine as well - I can't recommend Dr. McGarvey enough!

These replies are interesting. The message seems to be avoid fusion if you want to try to maintain an active lifestyle that would incorporate running or even walking a few miles a day for exercise. I'm not even sure if someone could ride a bike after a fusion procedure.
I'm hoping that the medical profession can develop some non-fusion options in the future that will allow walking, cycling, cutting the grass, yardwork, etc.
With a growing older population in this country, we can only hope better innovation will lead to more mobility.

Fusion, IMHO, was a step to relieve pain.

The orthopedic surgeon I had in Austin recommended me going to Houston because they were doing replacements instead of fusion. When you have a fused ankle the joints in your feet become more flexible (according to him) but that can lead to more Arthritis.

When I had mine done I was the youngest person my Dr. had done the ankle replacement on (mid 30's) but my arthritis was as bad as an old man. I went from constant pain to instant relief after the surgery pain was gone. PT is important and I was very fortunate to finally find a PT that got the strength in my muscles back up and was able to work on the flexibility. Unfortunately I was lackadaisical about keeping up with the home exercises and I have issues again, but it's not joint pain.

How do you undo a bone replacement to then go fuse the bones together? Did they save her ankle bones in a bag just in case?

They used some cadaver bone to replace the bone that was removed for the hardware insertion.