Bone marrow aspirate concentrate and microfracture technique for talar osteochondral lesions of the ankle

Abstract

Osteochondral lesions of the talus refer to a chondral or subchondral defect of the articular cartilage and potentially the underlying bone. Ankle sprains are an extremely common injury; approximately 27,000 ankle sprains occur per day in America. Fifty percent of these can lead to a cartilage injury to the ankle. There has been a high quoted rate of failure with conservative measures of up to 45% in some series. Surgical options are largely broken down into 2 groups, namely, reparative or regenerative treatments. The reparative techniques include debridement and bone marrow stimulation techniques such as microdrilling and microfracture. Regenerative techniques include autologous osteochondral transplants. However, there are disadvantages in terms of donor site morbidity and the development of subchondral bone cysts over time. The aim of this video is to demonstrate a technique for microfracture and augmentation with bone marrow aspirate concentration and Tisseel fibrin glue. This video details the indications for performing microfracture, the indications for using bone marrow stimulation techniques, and the contraindications. Patient positioning, setup, preparation of the lesion, harvesting of the bone marrow aspirate concentrate, and application of the bone marrow aspirate are detailed.