Comparison of Outcome After Retinaculum Repair With and Without Fibular Groove Deepening for Recurrent Dislocation of the Peroneal Tendons

Background: This study compared the operative outcome between retinaculum repair with and without fibular groove deepening for the treatment of recurrent traumatic peroneal tendon dislocation in young, active patients. Methods: A consecutive series of 29 patients who underwent operative treatment of recurrent peroneal tendon dislocation were evaluated. Thirteen patients were treated by the superior peroneal retinaculum repair with fibular groove deepening (group A) and 16 patients by superior peroneal retinaculum repair alone (group B). The American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle-hindfoot score, visual analog scale (VAS) score for pain, and overall patient satisfaction were used to evaluate the clinical outcome after a minimum follow-up period of 12 months postoperatively. In addition, mean time to return to sports activity and tourniquet time were compared between groups. Results: Mean AOFAS score improved significantly from 59.3 points preoperatively to 92.2 points at the final follow-up in group A and from 58.5 points preoperatively to 91.3 points at the final follow-up in group B. Mean VAS score also improved significantly from 5.0 points preoperatively to 1.0 points at the final follow-up in group A and from 4.9 points preoperatively to 1.2 points at the final follow-up in group B. Improvements in AOFAS and VAS scores at the final follow-up were not significantly different between the 2 groups. Mean time to return to sports activity was approximately 3 months in both groups. Mean tourniquet time in group B was significantly shorter than that in group A (42.2 vs 29.5 min). Conclusions: Isolated retinaculum repair compared to retinaculum repair with fibular groove deepening was a faster and simpler technique, but both techniques had good outcomes for the treatment of recurrent traumatic peroneal tendon dislocation.