Health Team

Doctor: Duke ankle replacement easier, more durable than previous procedures

Artificial joint replacements for the hip or knee have proven successful over many years, and now Duke University Hospital specialist believe they've developed an ankle replacement that could bring the procedure up to speed.

Posted Updated

By
Allen Mask
, M.D., WRAL Health Team physician
DURHAM, N.C. — Artificial joint replacements for the hip or knee have proven successful over many years, and now Duke University Hospital specialists believe they've developed an ankle replacement that could bring the procedure up to speed.

When an ankle injury 30 years ago limited Kathy Driver's active lifestyle due to increasing pain, she went to the doctor to have it checked out. Duke orthopedic surgeon Dr. Mark Easley told her that her ankle bones were rubbing together, which was causing the pain.

Easley says fusing the joint would relieve the pain, but it comes with its own problem.

"A fusion, however, eliminates motion as well," Easley said.

Driver, 67, wanted her active lifestyle back, so Easley offered ankle replacement surgery with special implants. The implants, Easley said, were invented and designed at Duke.

He says it includes the best of existing ankle replacements but with advantages.

"We think this design will have much less chance of loosening compared to other designs that are currently available on the market," Easley said.

The procedure preserves more bone, and he says it improves weight distribution.

Since September 2016, 200 patients have received the new joint, including Driver, who had her surgery last April.

"I had no pain," Driver said. "There is no physical therapy. It is really miraculous."

She's more active now with her grandchildren, and she's able to walk normally and wear any shoes she wants.

"Now I can do anything I want to do," she said. "I have my life back."

Easley said studies have shown previous ankle replacements have a survival rate of 95 percent after five years and 90 percent after 10 years. He is convinced, though, that their version will have a longer average life, and because it preserves more bone, the surgery can be more easily repeated if necessary.

Annual follow-ups with patients can help them detect problems like loosening, so they can repair it without major surgery, Easley said.

WRAL Health Team's Dr. Allen Mask said this type of replacement surgery is intended more for patients with end stage arthritis. Doctors can prescribe conservative approaches, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, cortisone shots and bracing, before they recommend surgery.

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