Staged vs concurrent hardware removal in total ankle arthroplasty

Introduction Ankle osteoarthritis is more commonly posttraumatic. Consequently, dealing with hardware removal is quite frequent when performing a total ankle arthroplasty (TAA). The purpose of this study is to compare outcomes regarding either a staged or concurrent hardware removal when performing TAA.Materials and methods 275 consecutive patients with TAA previously treated with internal fixation were retrospectively reviewed. Finally, 57 patients were enrolled based on exclusion criteria, and were differentiated into two groups considering the timing of hardware removal (staged-group A vs concurrent-group B) to compare: neurovascular and wound complications, time to recover full weight bearing, scar-tissue esthetic, and surgical time. Moreover, a subgroup comparison considering the surgical approach (single approach, minor additional approach, major additional approach) was performed between the group A and group B.Results No statistically significant difference other that longer surgical time (p < 0.05) was observed between group A and group B. When considering surgical approach subgroups, statistically significant higher surgical wound complications and revision rate were reported in group B (concurrent) major additional approach subgroup, and a statistically significant shorter time to full weight bearing was reported in group A (staged) major additional approach subgroup.Conclusions When performing TAA requiring hardware removal, no clear superiority of staged over concurrent hardware removal was observed. However, when considering a subgroup of patients requiring a separate major incision, a staged approach has shown reduced surgical time, less risk of wound complications, and shorter recovery to full weight bearing.