Arthroscopic Quantification of Syndesmotic Instability in a Cadaveric Model.

Purpose: To investigate whether arthroscopy or stress radiography can identify instability resulting from single-ligament injury of the ankle syndesmosis and to determine whether either modality is capable of differentiating between various levels of ligament injury.

Methods: Syndesmotic/deltoid ligament sectioning was performed in 10 cadaver legs. Arthroscopic evaluation and fluoroscopic stress testing were completed after each sectioning.