Feet First Innovative procedure puts the foot down on ankle pain By Hayley Imel T
he science behind putting the best foot forward is making great strides in Oklahoma. Arthritic ankle joints can be a
hard burden for the body to bear. For Kiwash Electric Cooperative General Manager Dennis Krueger, his pain came on slowly through the years.
“I played too much basketball as a kid, really,” Krueger said. Years later after throwing the towel in on the court, arthritis set in Krueger’s ankle. He started to have a “bone-on-bone” situation in which doctors told him all the tendons and cartilage cradling that joint would eventually go away. “The pain was constant,” Krueger said. “Every so often I could feel it up my nerves from my foot to my lower back—it’s just something that never ceased.” After about a decade of dealing with the pain, Krueger said he was convinced he needed to do some- thing. However, many of the pro- cedures he considered would have left him with a permanent limp, and the pain was not guaranteed to go away.
“In order to live through it, you just keep going,” Krueger said.
Previously, cortisone in- jections and fusions were some of the only available treatment op- tions for those suffering from painful post- traumat-
ic or rheumatoid arthritis. Howev- er, a new treatment stepped onto the scene with noticeably positive results.
According to manufacturer Small Bone Innovations, Inc, the “Scandinavian Total Ankle Re- placement” (STAR) implant is the only FDA-approved total ankle re- placement system for uncemented, or mobile-bearing, use.
“The STAR Ankle is what I call ‘cutting-edge’ technology,” Krueger, a recipient of the pro- cedure, said. “It’s a different ap- proach to an old problem.” Dr. Vytautas Ringus, physician at the Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Center in Norman, Okla., is the only surgeon in the state trained in the new treatment. “Most patients notice pain relief essentially the fi rst time they put their foot down,” Ringus said. “Im- mediately post-op it’s still sore but they still say, ‘Wow, it feels great.’” The ankle became the apple of Dr. Ringus’ eye after he completed a foot and ankle fellowship at the Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Center in Westerville, Ohio in 2010. He said the STAR ankle is unique because it consists of an ultra-high molecular-weight polyethylene that travels on a rail, giving pa- tients a three-dimensional range of motion. The polyethylene will also adjust to an individual person’s anatomy.
“I had one patient who loved
quail hunting,” Dr. Ringus said. “Post recovery he called me and said he hunted again, walking fi ve miles—he hasn’t been able to do that in years.” Although the STAR Ankle has been used for more than 20 years internationally, the product only survived the rigorous FDA pre- market approval process in 2009.
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