Clinical outcome and magnetic resonance imaging after osteochondral autologous transplantation in osteochondritis dissecans of the talus.

Background: Osteochondral autologous transplantation (OAT) has been performed for years for osteochondritis dissecans of the knee with good clinical results. In osteochondritis dissecans of the talus, however, OAT represents a challenge to the orthopaedic surgeon as frequently malleolar osteotomy has to be performed for exposure of the talus and the harvesting of the osteochondral graft usually requires an arthrotomy of the knee.

Methods: In this study, we evaluated the clinical outcome of OAT in 32 patients (mean follow-up 29 months) by means of the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) Ankle-Hindfoot Scale, ankle pain on the visual analogue scale (VAS), HSS Patella Score, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the osteochondral graft.