Arthroscopic debridement for soft tissue ankle impingement

Aim: To assess the response to treatment in patients with soft tissue impingement of the ankle managed with arthroscopic debridement. Methods: Forty-one ankle arthroscopies were performed for soft tissue impingement between April 2007 and April 2009. There were 26 men and 15 women and the mean age was 30.1 years. Arthroscopy was performed on an average of 21 months after injury. The Visual-Analogue-Scale Foot and Ankle (VASFA) score and Meislin's criteria were used to assess the response to treatment. Results: The mean pre-operative VASFA score was 44.5. This increased to 78.3 postoperatively (p\0.0001). According to Meislin's criteria, there were 34 good or excellent results, five fair and two poor results. Pre-operative magnetic resonance imaging was useful in detecting tears of the anterior talofibular ligament and excluding osteochondral defects; however, synovitis and soft tissue impingement was under-reported. Conclusions: Arthroscopy is an effective method for the diagnoses and treatment of soft tissue impingement of the ankle joint. This condition is under-reported on MRI.