Background: The incidence of nerve injury following ankle arthroscopy has a documented rate of 1% to 24%1-15. The intermediate branch of the superficial peroneal nerve is at most risk with an antero-lateral portal incision 6, 9–12. The superficial peroneal nerve (SPN) is often marked as part of pre-operative planning,1 despite there being little evidence of the effectiveness of this simple measure in reducing nerve injury in ankle arthroscopies.

Methods: We reviewed 100 consecutive cases who had an anterior ankle arthroscopy between February 2005 and April 2009. All arthroscopies were performed by a single surgeon (PFR) with pre-operative marking of the SPN. All patients were interviewed by telephone to find out if there had been any temporary or long-term neurological problems following the surgery. Any patients with neurological complications were reviewed in clinic. Patients’ notes were reviewed for any documented complications. Their level of satisfaction and improvement of symptoms were also assessed.

Results: We were able to trace 98% of patients. The average follow up was 15.3 months (1 to 39 months). The only neurological deficit in this series was in one case (1%) who developed sensory loss in the distribution of the medial branch of the SPN. 61% of the cases were highly-satisfied/satisfied, 23% were moderately satisfied and 16% were not satisfied with the outcome of their surgery. The reason quoted by the 16% unsatisfied patients was failure to improve their symptoms to their expected level or their need for another operation (41% of the unsatisfied group)

Conclusion: The incidence of nerve injury in our series was 1%. This is a dramatic improvement on the majority of published studies 1–15. We believe that marking the SPN prior to surgery is a simple and essential measure in reducing the neurological complications of ankle arthroscopy.