Cartilage Problems

Cartilage Problems

We see ankle joint calcifications so frequently, but we see local cartilage lesions in the ankle much more often. What does this mean? In other words, while joint calcification describes widespread degeneration of articular cartilage, it means that there is an average problem in an area of 1 cm in local lesions. Usually, bone death, which we call a necrosis, also occurs in a bone under this cartilage. Today, we prefer to treat such local problems with arthroscopy. What does arthroscopy mean? It is said among the people as bloodless surgery, which means to enter through 2 holes and see and treat the lesion with appropriate devices. This is a procedure that requires a night’s sleep and provides a quick return to normal life, usually and does not require a plaster cast. Here, I would like to explain more cases by giving examples. For example, this case was one that attracted a lot of attention abroad. There is a local lesion in the cartilage as you can see here. And the patient also had nerve compression and had pain in the posterior area of the ankle. There was also nerve compression, which we call the tarsal tunnel. In another center, this patient was offered open surgery, that is, open surgery by cutting the bone. We performed arthroscopy on this patient from the posterior region of the ankle, not the anterior, and loosened the existing nerve. In the same session, we also shaved the patient’s cartilage lesion and the patient returned to his daily life. A 45-year-old female patient had no complaints in her two-year follow-up. Sometimes, as we see here, we can encounter larger cysts and we can scrape them arthroscopically and put the bones we call grafts into them arthroscopically. However, sometimes in the middle ages, especially between the ages of 40-60, the cartilage lesion can exceed 1.5 cm. Especially in lesions exceeding 1.5 cm, but if there is no widespread calcification in the joint, then such cases do not benefit from arthroscopy. Then we prefer open surgery.