Mount Sinai Researchers Discover New Technique to Treat Osteochondral Ankle Lesions
Minimally invasive approach may lead to quicker recovery
Mount Sinai researchers have discovered a new, minimally invasive strategy for treating osteochondral defects of the ankle bone, common injuries that are typically caused by ankle sprains. The strategy involves injecting bone substitute material into the injury, which they showed could cut recovery time in half compared to the standard surgical treatment, in a study published in the September/October issue of Orthopedics.
“This technique is a completely new way of looking at a common orthopedic condition which is typically seen in younger patients and athletes, and this minimally invasive approach could make recovery much easier,” said lead investigator Ettore Vulcano, MD, Assistant Professor of Orthopedics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “This is the first published study looking at the use of injectable bone substitute to treat the pain instead of cartilage grafts, and if results continue to be positive this technique can substantially change the way surgeons treat this debilitating condition.”
Osteochondral lesions of the ankle bone happen when there’s a tear or fracture in the cartilage covering the bone. These commonly affect active younger people, including athletes. Traumatic injuries including ankle sprains often cause them, leading to significant pain when weight is put on the injury. The standard treatment typically consists of surgical procedures to stimulate cartilage growth, including grafts or scraping, which require six to eight weeks of no walking, plus another six weeks in a surgical boot. Even with this treatment, the recurrence rate remains high.
Dr. Vulcano and a team of researchers looked at whether the subchondroplasty procedure (SCP), a less invasive treatment, would be more effective. SCP entails making micro-incisions to inject calcium phosphate bone substitute into the bone. During the healing process, real bone replaces the hard-setting bone substitute material.
“I do not believe the actual cartilage lesion is the source of pain. Therefore, my hypothesis was that if I address the bone bruising with bone substitute without even touching the cartilage or trying to regenerate cartilage, the patient will get pain relief,” added Dr. Vulcano.
Researchers studied 11 patients with osteochondral defects who underwent SCP (4 male and 7 female, mean age 34 years). They analyzed their recovery over the course of nine months. Dr. Vulcano and the team found that 90 percent of the patients could bear weight on their ankle immediately after the procedure and had excellent pain relief. One patient could run without pain only three weeks following treatment. With traditional surgery, there’s also a 90 percent success rate, but patients are not allowed to bear weight on the surgical foot for up to two months.
“Further studies are needed to assess the long-term effectiveness of this procedure, but this may represent an additional method to treat a difficult condition with a quick recovery,” Dr. Vulcano explained.
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the nation’s leading integrated academic health systems and one of the largest in the New York metropolitan area. Its comprehensive system includes seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, over 600 research and clinical laboratories, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing. Together, the Health System comprises approximately 48,000 employees, more than 9,000 physicians, and 8,600 nurses.
As a leading learning health system, Mount Sinai combines clinical expertise with scientific discovery to improve patient care while training the next generation of health care and biomedical leaders. The Health System provides care across every stage of life, from prenatal care through geriatrics, while advancing personalized medicine through artificial intelligence, data science, and biomedical research.
Mount Sinai is consistently recognized among the nation’s leading academic health systems for patient care, research, and education. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 1 in New York by Newsweek and No. 5 on the magazine’s World’s Best Hospitals list. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ranks No. 11 among U.S. medical schools and No. 1 among freestanding medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding, reflecting the strength of its scientific enterprise and leadership in biomedical research.
