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Review
. 2017 Mar;10(1):131-140.
doi: 10.1007/s12178-017-9393-8.

Osteochondral lesions of the talus in the athlete: up to date review

Yoshiharu Shimozono  1   2   3 , Youichi Yasui  1   2 , Andrew W Ross  1 , John G Kennedy  4
Affiliations
Review

Osteochondral lesions of the talus in the athlete: up to date review

Yoshiharu Shimozono et al. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2017 Mar.

Abstract

Purpose of review: Osteochondral lesions of the talus (OLT) are common injuries in athletes. The purpose of this study is to comprehensively review the clinical results and return to sport capacity in athletes following treatment for OLT.

Recent findings: Reparative procedures, such as bone marrow stimulation, and replacement procedures, such as autologous osteochondral transplantation, provide good clinical outcomes in short- and mid-term follow-up in the athlete. Recently, biological augmentation and scaffold-based therapies have been shown to improve clinical and radiological outcomes in OLT in both the general population and athletes. Most studies are of a low level of evidence. Studies analyzing the return to sport capability in athletes are further lacking. High-level evidence and well-designed clinical trials are required to establish the most effective treatment protocol.

Keywords: Autologous osteochondral transplantation; Biologic; Bone marrow stimulations; Osteochondral lesions of talus.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

Yoshiharu Shimozono, Youichi Yasui, and Andrew W. Ross declare that they have no conflict of interest. John G. Kennedy reports grants from Arteriocyte, Inc., The Ohnell Family Foundation, and Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Levitt outside of the submitted work. He is a board member for the European Society of Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery, and Arthroscopy (ESSKA) and a finance board member of the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS), and he is on the committee for the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) Awards and Scholarships.

Human and animal rights and informed consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a Arthroscopic image showing unstable cartilage of an osteochondral lesion of the talus. b Bone marrow stimulation is performed using a microfracture pick. c Bleeding from the created holes is confirmed
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Intraoperative photograph of exposure of the medial talus by Chevron-type medial malleolar osteotomy. Double osteochondral autograft transplantation has been performed
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Coronal quantitative T2 mapping image showing normal stratification of the graft and adjacent native articular cartilage
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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