The first Infinity total ankle replacement surgery in China was completed. A Guangdong doctor's "clever trick" saved the patient's ankle joint

The first Infinity (the latest generation of prosthesis for ankle replacement) total ankle replacement surgery in China was completed at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. The surgery was performed by the team led by Professor Song Weidong, Director of the Department of Foot and Ankle Surgery of the hospital's Department of Orthopedics. It is reported that the successful completion of this surgery marks a new step forward in the surgical treatment of end-stage ankle arthritis in China.

Aunt Zeng repeatedly sought medical attention for right ankle pain

Aunt Zeng, 53, repeatedly sought medical treatment for right ankle pain, which had worsened over the past three years. Before coming to the hospital, she had already started to experience difficulty walking and limited joint mobility, and the repeated pain had caused her quality of life to plummet. After learning about Aunt Zeng's condition, the treatment team immediately arranged an examination for her and diagnosed her with severe ankle osteoarthritis.

Song Weidong introduced that ankle osteoarthritis is a chronic degenerative disease caused by the degeneration of articular cartilage function. It is common in the middle-aged and elderly people with a history of ankle trauma or rheumatism. The clinical symptoms of the disease are mostly ankle pain and joint stiffness. Some patients experience joint swelling and effusion. The condition will seriously affect the patient's motor function and quality of life.

Ankle joint swelling and pain have not healed for a long time, traditional surgery has many hidden dangers

For patients with end-stage arthritis with more severe lesions like Aunt Zeng, joint fusion or total ankle replacement (TAR) is a common treatment option. Song Weidong revealed that although ankle fusion can solve the patient's joint pain problem, it is more traumatic, takes a long time for the patient to recover, and loses the function of the ankle joint, resulting in a decrease in quality of life. The treatment team believes that this is not suitable for Aunt Zeng, who has higher requirements for ankle joint function.

Total ankle replacement is one of the effective and safe surgical methods for treating ankle arthritis. It can better preserve the patient's ankle joint movement function, but traditional surgical materials may also cause various subsequent problems. How to choose the right material for surgery has become an important issue for the treatment team.

In order to preserve the function of the ankle joint, the expert team came up with a "clever trick"

Total ankle prosthesis replacement has a history of nearly 50 years, and surgical materials have gone through the development from the first generation to the fourth generation of prostheses. "The ankle prostheses used in my country are basically imported. Currently, the third generation of ankle prostheses are basically used, but some patients are still not satisfied with the treatment effect. Later, our team turned its attention to the fourth generation of prostheses that were launched in China at the beginning of this year." Song Weidong said.

Song Weidong introduced that compared with the previous generations of prostheses, the fourth-generation prostheses have special advantages that opened up new ideas for the treatment team: "Using this prosthesis to perform surgery, the amount of tibial bone resection is small, the patient's bone can be preserved as much as possible, the original bone is less damaged, the prosthesis has a longer life, better function, and the patient recovers faster." Of course, for the operator, the replacement of materials means that the requirements for surgical technology are also higher. It is understood that the difficulty of the operation is mainly reflected in the high requirements for the surgeon's skills and experience, and the high precision required for the operation.

Expert team uses ingenious techniques to make new materials the preferred choice

After confirming the treatment plan, the treatment team successfully completed the first Infinity prosthesis replacement in China under the premise of strictly controlling the indications and contraindications of the surgery. Song Weidong revealed that the patient's intraoperative and postoperative review showed that the ankle prosthesis and force line were good, the size was appropriate, and the tibiotalar joint prosthesis cooperated well. On the third day after the operation, Aunt Zeng was able to walk on the ground accompanied by medical staff, and she was able to recover and be discharged from the hospital after the stitches were removed 14 days after the operation.

According to members of Song Weidong's team, this prosthesis has been widely used in developed countries such as Europe and the United States, and doctors and patients have high satisfaction after surgery. Compared with the third-generation prosthesis, the replacement price of the fourth-generation prosthesis has not increased significantly. For patients with ankle replacement surgery indications such as severe osteoarthritis caused by rheumatoid arthritis, trauma, gout, cartilage degeneration, etc., after clinical evaluation, Infinity ankle replacement surgery can be performed. For this group of people, especially middle-aged and elderly patients, the new surgical materials will provide a better choice for their treatment.