Revisional total ankle arthroplasty because of a large tibial bone cyst

Osteoarthritis of the ankle can occur secondary to alteration of the articular surfaces, such as in the posttraumatic setting, or because of gradual degeneration as a result of biomechanical dysfunction. Although primary inflammatory ankle arthritis rarely occurs, the majority of cases of ankle osteoarthritis occur after bony trauma, ligamentous injury, congenital deformity, or previous surgical intervention. Although ankle arthrodesis was shown to be successful and reliable, and although it remains the gold standard for surgical intervention after nonsurgical care of the arthritic ankle has been exhausted, a reasonable return to a dynamic lifestyle can be limited by fusion of the ankle. With the ever-increasing prevalence of favorable objective outcomes after implantation of late-model ankle endoprostheses, total ankle arthroplasty has become a popular alternative to arthrodesis. As the number of total ankle replacements increases in the population, particularly in cases involving younger and more active patients, surgeons will encounter more cases that require revisional total ankle replacement. We describe a patient who underwent the exchange of one total ankle endoprosthesis for another, in the presence of a large cyst about the tibial component of the implant.

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