Introduction:

Posterior ankle arthroscopy allows the diagnosis and treatment of multiple pathologies through minimal trauma. The use of posterior portals associated or not to mechanical distraction, allows a good vision of the posterior ankle, tendons of the region, and subtalar joint.

Objectives:

We evaluated intra- and postoperative complications of posterior ankle arthroscopy without joint distraction, and compared them with those described in international literature.

Material and methods:

A retrospective study that evaluated 49 patients undergoing posterior ankle arthroscopy for several pathologies. All of them operated by a single surgeon, in two health institutions, for seven years.

Results:

were analyzed using the visual analog scale and the AOFAS score. Intra- and postoperative complications were recorded. The average follow-up was 28 months.

Results:

33 men and 16 women. The average age was 38.6 years old. There were seven complications (14.3%): paresthesia and - or hypoesthesia of the sural nerve (four cases), residual pain in the portal (two cases), and portal scar dehiscence (one patient). The average improvement of VAS was 5.53 points, and the improved AOFAS score was an average of 35.78 points.

Conclusions:

Posterior ankle arthroscopy without distraction through the classic postero-lateral and posteromedial portals is a safe technique, with a low rate of complications.