Clinical comparison of two total ankle replacements.

We compared the outcome of the cemented Thompson Parkridge Richards (TPR) ankle prosthesis with that of the cementless Scandinavian Total Ankle Replacement (STAR) ankle prosthesis in a demographically similar group of patients. These were 14 consecutive arthroplasties in 12 rheumatoid arthritis patients, all operated on by the same surgeon. The status of all patients, five years or more after surgery, is known. The mean follow-up periods for the TPR group and the STAR group are 7.2 and 5.4 years respectively. Four of the six TPR tibial components became radiographically loose within two years of surgery. Two of these have been converted to fusions. The STAR prostheses remain satisfactory both clinically and radiographically at five years.