RESEARCH & ARTICLES

Osteochondral Allograft Transfer for Treatment of Osteochondral Lesions of the Talus

Purpose: To characterize fresh osteochondral allograft (OCA) functional outcomes, complications and reoperation rates in the talus through systematic review of available literature.

Summary:

  • No single publication has had enough patients to draw broad and meaningful conclusions about OCA transplantation in the talus
  • Five articles were included in this systematic review and all were Level IV studies
  • 91 OCAs were transplanted into 71 medial, 18 lateral and 2 central lesions in the talus
  • AOFAS scores improved by an average of 66.7% and there was a decrease in VAS scores by an average of 62% at a mean follow-up of 45 months
  • 25% of patients needed at least one reoperation and 13.2% of these were considered failures

JRF Ortho Take Away: Despite the high incidence of reoperation and failure, carefully selected patients can experience substantially improved function as a result of fresh OCA transplantation in the talus.

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Authors: Richard J. VanTienderen, John C. Dunn, Nicholas Kusnezov, Justin D. Orr

Published: Journal of Arthroscopy. 2017 Jan;33(1):217-222.

Institution: William Beaumont Army Medical Center and Texas Tech University