Autologous chondrocyte implantation for the treatment of osteochondral lesions of the talus: What happens after 20 years?

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the long-term clinical efficacy of first-generation autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) technique for osteochondral lesions of the ankle joint.<br /> Methods: Eleven patients with symptomatic OLTs underwent ACI from December 1997 to October 2002. A total of 9 patients (5 men, 4 women, age 25.2 +/- 6.3) were evaluated at baseline and at 1, 3, 10 years, and at final follow-up of minimum 20 years with AOFAS ankle-hindfoot score, NRS for pain, and with the Tegner score.<br /> Results: The AOFAS score improved significantly from the baseline value of 40.4 +/- 19.8 to 82.7 +/- 12.9 at the final follow-up (p < 0.0005). The NRS for pain improved significantly from 7.8 +/- 0.7 at baseline to 4.8 +/- 2.1 at the final follow-up (p < 0.0005). Moreover, the Tegner score underwent a modification from the preoperative median value of 1 (range: 1-3) and from a pre-injury value of 5 (range: 3-7) to 3 (range: 2-4) at the final follow-up (p < 0.0005). Conclusions: ACI has proven to be an effective treatment option for patients suffering from OLTs, leading to a long-lasting clinical improvement even beyond 20 years of follow-up.