Smoking Is Associated with Anterior Ankle Impingement After Isolated Autologous Matrix-Induced Chondrogenesis for Osteochondral Lesions of the Talus

Objective To determine potential predictive associations between patient-/lesion-specific factors, clinical outcome and anterior ankle impingement in patients that underwent isolated autologous matrix-induced chondrogenesis (AMIC) for an osteochondral lesion of the talus (OLT). Design Thirty-five patients with a mean age of 34.7 ± 15 years who underwent isolated cartilage repair with AMIC for OLTs were evaluated at a mean follow-up of 4.5 ± 1.9 years. Patients completed AOFAS (American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society) scores at final follow-up, as well as Tegner scores at final follow-up and retrospectively for preinjury and presurgery time points. Pearson correlation and multivariate regression models were used to distinguish associations between patient-/lesion-specific factors, the need for subsequent surgery due to anterior ankle impingement and patient-reported outcomes. Results At final follow-up, AOFAS and Tegner scores averaged 92.6 ± 8.3 and 5.1 ± 1.8, respectively. Both body mass index (BMI) and duration of symptoms were independent predictors for postoperative AOFAS and Δ preinjury to postsurgery Tegner with positive smoking status showing a trend toward worse AOFAS scores, but this did not reach statistical significance ( P = 0.054). Nine patients (25.7%) required subsequent surgery due to anterior ankle impingement. Smoking was the only factor that showed significant correlation with postoperative anterior ankle impingement with an odds ratio of 10.61 when adjusted for BMI and duration of symptoms (95% CI, 1.04-108.57; P = 0.047). Conclusion In particular, patients with normal BMI and chronic symptoms benefit from AMIC for the treatment of OLTs. Conversely, smoking cessation should be considered before AMIC due to the increased risk of subsequent surgery and possibly worse clinical outcome seen in active smokers.