A national survey of BOFAS members on the treatment of primary osteochondral lesions of the talus.
Samy David A DA, Ankers Thomas T, Mangwani Jitendra J, Calder James J et al.
Osteochondral defects (OCDs) of the talus are a "TOP 10" research priority in foot and ankle surgery, identified by the James Lind Alliance in partnership with BOFAS, BOA and NIHR. To inform a research strategy, the treatment preferences of BOFAS members were surveyed. A questionnaire on the presentation, investigation and management of primary OCDs of the talus that had failed non-surgical treatment was formulated by the BOFAS National Clinical Study Group, ratified by the Scientific Committee, and distributed via Microsoft Forms. Surgical treatment was categorised by defect size (small: ≤15 mm; large: >15 mm) and depth (shallow: ≤5 mm; deep: >5 mm), with depth defined as the cranio-caudal dimension into subchondral bone on MRI. There were 90 responses (90/224; 40.2% response rate). Bone marrow stimulation (BMS; microfracture or nanofracture) was the dominant first-line choice across all categories. For small, shallow lesions, 85/90 respondents (94%) chose BMS. For large, shallow lesions, BMS was chosen by 59 (68%), BMS plus a scaffold (AMIC/ACIC) by 18 (21%), and BMS plus a biological agent (cBMA/PRP) by 6 (7%). For small, deep lesions, BMS remained most popular (69 respondents; 77%). For large, deep lesions, BMS was chosen by 43 (49%), BMS plus scaffold by 23 (26%), and osteochondral autograft transfer (OATS) by 7 (8%). Post-operative weight-bearing preferences varied considerably, with 49% allowing immediate unrestricted weight-bearing. This is the largest national BOFAS survey on OLT management to date in the United Kingdom. BMS was the most popular treatment across all lesion types, consistent with Guelfi et al. (2021). However, significant practice variation exists, particularly for larger and deeper lesions. High-quality randomised controlled trials are needed to establish optimal evidence-based treatment for OLTs.