Conversion of Symptomatic Ankle Arthrodesis Nonunion to Total Ankle Arthroplasty Using Patient-specific Instrumentation and Computer-assisted Surgery Guides: A Case Report

Abstract

A 69-year-old woman developed a painful ankle fusion nonunion and underwent conversion to a total ankle replacement. Preoperative navigation was performed using a computed tomography scan and computer modeling system to develop patient-specific instrumentation and surgery guides. We described the navigation process of a fixed-bearing, computer-guided total ankle implant when performing an ankle arthrodesis takedown due to symptomatic nonunion and converting to a total ankle arthroplasty. The use of this technology is relatively new, and, in this case, preoperative navigation allowed for precise implant planning while accounting for the osseous deformities from previous implants, which already fixated the ankle joint. Level of Evidence: Level IV.