The First Generation of Ankle Implants

It is Lord and Marotte the first to attempt to replace the ankle joint in 1970. They used an inverted hip stem implanted into the tibia and a cemented acetabular cup in the calcaneus. They completely removed the talus. 



The above part is the tibia bone and the bottom part is the talus bone.


They concluded that only 7 of 25 cases could be considered satisfactory and that arthrodesis was better option for the patients. From there, it is known that ankle prosthesis should not be just a simple hinge (flexion - extension) device due to the small amount of rotation required at the ankle.

For the first generation of Total Ankle Replacement implants were only two parts system which either one is made of metal and the other one is made of polyethylene. These 2 parts implant consist of the talar part and the talus part which only have 1 touching surface that will be allowing only (flexion - extension). These implants were using cemented fixation to fix the implant in the bone.


Regards,


Tim