The treatment of OA of the ankle is similar to any other large joint and includes conservative and surgical treatment. The surgical treatment is fusion or replacement but conservative treatment is limited and include mainly ankle supports and physiotherapy. Hyaluronic acid was discovered by Meyer and Palmer in 1934 and recently is widely used in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. We evaluated the efficacy of intra-articular preparation containing Sodium Hyaluronate, in the treatment of OA of the ankle.

A group of 16 patients suffering from ankle osteoarthritis were selected for the study. The mean age was 43 years (range 31–79 years) and the duration of pain from nine months to 27 years. Twelve patients had ankle fractures and four had no trauma history. The clinical presentation included at least one or more of the following conditions of the ankle joint: pain in motion or at rest, swelling and tenderness for over than nine months. The radiographic severity of the ankle osteoarthritis was grade II, III or IV according to Kellgren and Lawrence. Intra-articular injections of 25 mg Sodium-hyaluronate (Adant) were administered on five consecutive weeks. Follow-up visits were perfumed one, two, three, four and seven months post treatment and included clinical evaluation and score scale.

Global assessment showed, in 13 out of 16 patients, improvement in the range of motion by 20%. Significant reduction of the OA symptoms according to the score: two to three points improvement on each scale. According to the osteoarthrithis ankle score scale: up to 20 points. Improvement continued for seven months follow-up after the treatment; no decrease in the treatment efficacy has been shown. Global assessment of two patients did not show any significant improvement after the treatment. One patient dropped off the study due to other operation.

Symptomatic relief of OA of the ankle can be achieved by injection of intraarticular preparation containing Sodium Hyaluronate.