Low-Flow Ankle Arthroscopy for Gunshot Wounds With Retained Intra-Articular Ballistic

Gunshot injuries to the foot and ankle can cause unique and challenging situations for orthopaedic surgeons. The foot and ankle have limited soft-tissue coverage and highly congruent joint spaces, leading to injuries that are often intra-articular with substantial tissue loss. These injuries are often confounded by feet shod in footwear that is pulled into the path of the missile and corresponding tissue. Thus, we report our experience of using low-flow arthroscopy for extraction of retained ballistics, while irrigating and debriding the path of the missile.