Ankle arthropathy in the haemophilic patient: a description of a novel ankle arthrodesis technique

The ankle joint is well known to show early involvement in severe haemophilia. We describe a novel operative technique developed by the senior author. This combines a medial approach to the ankle, medial malleolar osteotomy, bone graft and compression with staples. All patients had excellent pain relief and improvement in function with 100% achieving bony union. There was a significant improvement in Mazur ankle scores following ankle fusion (P < 0.01). This surgical technique gives good results which are reproducible in this patient population.