CBC News: Artificial ankle returns mobility to arthritis patients

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Artificial ankle returns mobility to arthritis patients

Last Updated Fri, 15 Nov 2002 15:05:07

MONTREAL - A Canadian surgeon specializing in ankle arthritis is testing an

alternative to the standard treatment.

Doctors were limited to treating people with painful arthritis in the ankle

by fusing the ankle bones together.

Maxine Schwartz

But patients are left with a limp and the extra stress can cause arthritis

to develop in other joints, such as the knee.

Maxine Schwartz, 62, had arthritis in her ankle and knew how painful the

condition was.

" The cartilage had worn away and it was bone on bone with the nerves in

between, " said Schwartz. " That was the real bad pain. "

Then Schwartz received a new treatment: an ankle replacement.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Ruth Chaytor of Sir Mortimer B. - Jewish

General Hospital in Montreal specializes in treating ankle arthritis using a

prosthesis made of metal and plastic parts. It works like a flesh-and-bones

one.

Chaytor said all five of her patients who've received the ankle replacement

are doing well.

Schwartz is among them. She can now move her ankle without pain and even

ride a bicycle.

The operation takes over three hours

" It works fine but what I'm told is a ballet dancer I'll never be again, "

said Schwartz.

Chaytor has a long waiting list of older patients who are eager to become

ankle replacement success stories themselves.

But she warns the prosthesis is only recommended for patients over age 55,

since the replacement doesn't have a long lifespan.

Written by CBC News Online staff

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/11/15/ankle021115