Comparison of different bone graft with arthroscopy-assisted arthrodesis for the treatment of traumatic arthritis of the subtalar joint.

AIM OF THE STUDY To compare the clinical outcomes of traumatic arthritis of the subtalar joint treated by arthroscopy-assisted arthrodesis with autologous bone graft, allogenous bone graft, artifical bone graft, and no bone graft . METHODS Sixty-two patients (64 ft) with traumatic arthritis of subtalar joint were randomly divided into four groups. The cases treated with arthroscopy-assisted arthrodesis were analyzed retrospectively. The mean follow-up time was about 22 months (18-28 months) in each group. Clinical outcomes were assessed by the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) score, Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and radiographic examination. The post-operative complications in each group were recorded respectively. RESULTS All operations were successful, without incision complications. The subtalar joint obtained full osseous fusion in each group. The average time of osseous fusion was about 12 weeks. There was no significant difference in the fusion time with each group (P = 0.991). The AOFAS and VAS scores in each group were improved significantly in the pre-operative vs post-operative evaluation (all P < 0.01). The average operation time in autologous bone graft group was 74.56 ± 11.45 min which significantly different from that of other groups(P < 0.01). CONCLUSION Similar clinical outcomes were achieved among each type of bone graft. Therefore, which types of bone graft or not may be not the most important for arthroscopy-assisted subtalar arthrodesis.