Conservative treatment of cartilage damage of the ankle

In this article the etiology of osteoarthritis of the ankle joint is briefly presented. This is followed by an extensive description of the conservative treatment options. The risks of treatment with oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) are presented. The topical use of NSAID is a well-accepted alternative. If contraindications for oral NSAID are present, intra-articular treatment is a good option. The best evidence at the moment is for viscosupplementation but there is still limited evidence for the use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and the use of mesenchymal stem cells has only been reported in a very limited number of case series.