Introduction and Objectives: We analyzed the physical and health status of patients with ankle arthritis that underwent arthrodesis or total ankle replacement and determined which alternative provided a greater perception of improvement in quality of life and whether there was any difference in the perception of the patients that underwent either of these two procedures.

Materials and Methods: This is a comparative-prospective study in patients that underwent arthrodesis (16 cases) or total ankle replacement (14 cases) in which clinical-functional variables were assessed by means of the AOFAS score and quality of life was measured using SF-36 at 2 years of follow-up and this was compared with preoperative assessment.

Results: The study was carried out with 2 series of comparable patients, both surgical techniques showed a statistically significant improvement on clinical assessment and on quality of life assessment in comparison with preoperative status after 2 years of follow-up. The group of patients that underwent arthrodesis changed from mid-range AOFAS values of 37.12 to 45.62 (p=0.055) and mid-range SF-36 values of 32.96 to 46.25 (p=0.008). The group that underwent arthroplasties changed from mid-range AOFAS values of 33 to 62 (p=0.024) and mid-range SF-36 values of 33.62 to 59.84 (p=0.001). The improvement was statistically greater in the group that underwent arthroplasties than in the group that underwent arthrodesis (p=0.48 for AOFAS, and p=0.026 for SF-36)

Discussion and Conclusions: Both procedures are good treatment options, they ‘significantly improve patient’s status both clinically and in their perception of their health and quality of life. The medium term perception of quality of life and general health on the part of patients with ankle arthritis is better when they undergo ankle arthroplasty than when they undergo surgical fusion.