Ankle osteoarthritis: Toward new understanding and opportunities for prevention and intervention.
Date
2024-12
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Citation Stats
Attention Stats
Abstract
The ankle infrequently develops primary osteoarthritis (OA), especially when compared to the hip and the knee. Ankle OA instead generally develops only after trauma. The consequences of end-stage ankle OA can nonetheless be extremely debilitating, with impairment comparable to that of end-stage kidney disease or congestive heart failure. Disconcertingly, evidence suggests that ankle OA can develop more often than is generally appreciated after even low-energy rotational ankle fractures and chronic instability associated with recurrent ankle sprains, albeit at a slower rate than after more severe trauma. The mechanisms whereby ankle OA develops after trauma are poorly understood, but mechanical factors are implicated. A better understanding of the prevalence and mechanical etiology of post-traumatic ankle OA can lead to better prevention and mitigation. New surgical and conservative interventions, including improved ligamentous repair strategies and custom carbon fiber bracing, hold promise for advancing treatment that may prevent residual ankle instability and the development of ankle OA. Studies are needed to fill in key knowledge gaps here related to etiology so that the interventions can target key factors. New technologies, including weight bearing CT and biplane fluoroscopy, offer fresh opportunities to better understand the relationships between trauma, ankle alignment, residual ankle instability, OA development, and foot/ankle function. This paper begins by reviewing the epidemiology of post-traumatic ankle OA, presents evidence suggesting that new treatment options might be successful at preventing ankle OA, and then highlights recent technical advances in understanding of the origins of ankle OA to identify directions for future research.
Type
Department
Description
Provenance
Subjects
Citation
Permalink
Published Version (Please cite this version)
Publication Info
Anderson, Donald D, William R Ledoux, Amy L Lenz, Jason Wilken, Mark E Easley and Cesar de Cesar Netto (2024). Ankle osteoarthritis: Toward new understanding and opportunities for prevention and intervention. Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society, 42(12). pp. 2613–2622. 10.1002/jor.25973 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/34702.
This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
Collections
Scholars@Duke
Mark Erik Easley
Cesar de Cesar Netto
The desire to explore, research, and understand things in great detail has been the driving force throughout my career. This passion drew me to Foot and Ankle, a subspecialty expanding in orthopedic knowledge with many unsolved mysteries. After completing my Medical School, Orthopedic Residency, and Foot and Ankle Fellowship at the renowned University of Sao Paulo, ranked number one in Latin America for several years, and after five years of clinical practice in Brazil, this desire to explore and understand also brought me to the United States. As part of my Ph.D. program with the University of Sao Paulo, I joined as a visiting scientist and research fellow for Dr. Lew Schon at the traditional MedStar Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore-MD, where I developed an animal model of induced Achilles tendinopathy.
As a practicing physician in Brazil, I achieved multiple goals in my early career. Academics have been a large component of my practice, allowing me to participate in young physicians' education and challenge my understanding of orthopedic fundamentals. As the elected Chief of Orthopaedic Residents from 2011 to 2013, I presented 245 lectures to orthopedic surgeons and in multidisciplinary conferences. My practice as an orthopedic surgeon in Sao Paulo allowed me to combine the Brazilian enthusiasm for soccer, serving as the team physician and Foot and Ankle advisor for the professional soccer team Sport Club Corinthians Paulista for almost five years.
As a Foot and Ankle surgeon, I constantly sought to confront the unsolved questions in our orthopedic practices. During my Ph.D. studies with the University of Sao Paulo, I aimed to maximize my research experience and clinical exposure. During my time in Maryland, I have engaged in multiple research projects, collaborating with MedStar Union Memorial and Johns Hopkins University to evaluate and clinically implement innovative imaging techniques, including weight-bearing CT, dynamic CT, 3D MRI, and metal artifact reduction sequence (MARS) MRI.
I was also amazed by the American medical system's resources that create opportunities for motivated physicians to excel in clinical work, educational teaching endeavors, and research investigations. While this balance requires dedication and precise time management, I have been fortunate to work with a variety of mentors who demonstrated to me how great it could be to practice in the US. With that in mind, I ended up deciding to pursue the Academic Pathway of the ABOS Certification. I have completed a total of three Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Fellowships in the US. The first was at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), the second at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City, and the third and final at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore-MD. It was a long but very pleasant and rewarding pathway that allowed me to grow as a person, as a clinician, and as a surgeon while being fortunate to create lifetime bonds with several mentors. Once I was done with my fellowships, my objective was to combine my unique background with my innovative and instructive training and apply the acquired knowledge as an Academic Assistant Professor at the Department of Orthopedics of the Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa.
The almost four years in Iowa City have been a blast! The leadership of the Orthopedic Department entirely and constantly supported me, and together, we achieved a lot in a relatively short amount of time. I utilized my academic start-up grant to acquire the first Weight-Bearing CT scanner in the Country that allows the hip, knee, foot, and ankle to be scanned under load simultaneously. With the scanner, I founded and served as the Director of the University of Iowa Orthopedic Functional Imaging Research Laboratory (OFIRL), which rapidly achieved an established, recognized position in the research and orthopedic foot and ankle community. I also had the unique opportunity to care for the State of Iowa community suffering from orthopedic foot and ankle problems, always excelling in providing high-quality and passionate clinical and surgical care. I’ll be forever grateful to my leadership, partners, and colleagues in Iowa City, as well as my patients, who gave me the utmost opportunity to care for them.
As an Associate Professor in the Department of Orthopedics at Duke University, I hope to contribute further to the American society and North Carolina Community, taking excellent care of patients, teaching and mentoring medical students, residents, and fellows, and helping the orthopedic foot and ankle surgery research to excel.
Unless otherwise indicated, scholarly articles published by Duke faculty members are made available here with a CC-BY-NC (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial) license, as enabled by the Duke Open Access Policy. If you wish to use the materials in ways not already permitted under CC-BY-NC, please consult the copyright owner. Other materials are made available here through the author’s grant of a non-exclusive license to make their work openly accessible.