Arthroscopically Assisted Anterior Treatment of Symptomatic Large Talar Bone Cyst

Symptomatic cystic lesions of the talus are rare. The traditional operations usually do not provide visualization to reveal the deep structure of the lesion and could cause cartilage damage or other severe traumatic injury. We report an operative technique to reach the cystic lesion without talar cartilage damage, remove the lesion, and fill defect with a bone graft assisted by anterior arthroscopy and evaluate its safety and reliability for future study. Seven cases of talar bone cyst were included. The patients were placed in the supine position after anesthesia induction and noninvasive ankle traction was applied. Standard anteromedial and anterolateral portals were established to observe the ankle; the distal end of the medial approach was moderately enlarged to 2 to 3 cm. The biopsy specimen of the cyst was obtained under arthroscopic guidance; the cyst wall was abraded and the sclerotic rim drilled. Arthrocare radiofrequency ablation was performed to prevent recurrence. The defect was tightly impacted with autologous or allograft cancellous bone. All cysts in these cases were located in the medial talus; anteroposterior radiographs and computed tomographic coronary scan showed a cyst diameter of >1 cm. Intraoperative inspection showed a tiny chondral gap on the talar dome in 1 case and on the medial wall of talus in 1 case; no cartilage injury was found in the remainder. Two cases were impacted with grafted autogenous iliac bone into the talar defect and 5 cases with allograft cancellous bone. Computed tomography confirmed that the cysts had healed, with no signs of recurrence found in any patient at 1 year postoperatively. The mean American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society ankle-hindfoot scale score increased from 65 preoperatively to 91 points postoperatively, a statistically significant difference (p < .01). No complications developed and no reoperations were required postoperatively. Arthroscopically assisted anterior treatment with autologous or allograft bone graft is an effective method for symptomatic large talar bone cysts.