Most Commonly Injured Joint Diagnosis Being Standardized – Finally!

Orthopedics This Week—April 2, 2012

John Kennedy, M.D., is an assistant attending orthopedic surgeon at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). He recently co chaired the International Congress on Cartilage Repair of the Ankle in Dublin, Ireland, with Drs. Rick Ferkel and Niek van Dijk. Dr. Kennedy tells OTW, “We brought together a panel of 25 surgeons and scientists as well as over 200 attendees from the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia to establish a foundation for international collaboration and innovation regarding ankle cartilage care. One of the topics we tackled was whether to repair or replace cartilage defects. We haven’t answered that question conclusively yet but we do know that we should not ignore these lesions regardless of size. The fact is that every time we treat an ankle fracture we are potentially walking away from the table with the job half done. Why? Because we know that the cartilage has been damaged—and that may be a good reason to at least look inside the joint when you are fixing the fracture.