1) Are there specific doctors or medical facilities such as Duke or Mayo that are the leading specialists in AVN of the ankle. I have AVN in both ankles, with a collapsed talus in the left ankle due to use of prednisone. We live in Tucson, Arizona. 2) What are the treatment options for AVN of the ankle? Thanks for taking time to respond. Thayer

-- Thayer Morgan (ronrmorgan@cs.com), August 23, 2003

Answers

treatments are generally fusion - ankle replacement - core decompression - bone growth stimulators that i have been able to find onthe internet - good luck!

-- stefan cudby (stefan@targetvisibility.co.uk), November 03, 2003.

I have AVN in both hips, both knees, both ankles and now even both shoulders. It started in 1987 with one ankle. I was told back then and have been told recently as well- there is no "ankle joint replacement" for the ankle due to the way the talus erodes (I guess that is the correct word) with AVN. I had one doctor recently send my MRI results to his orthopaedic friend at Johns Hopkins who has done experimental grafting of some sort but when he saw my films- he advised me to not have anything done for the time being. I had a core decompression at Duke exactly one year ago and am doing fine with it. I now have been diagnosed with "extensive AVN" in the opposite shoulder, but so far it does not seem to be advancing as fast as the other one. I am not sure why- but "knock on wood" all of my joints appear to each a certain stage of AVN and then stop progressing to the point of collapsing. I guess it could be it just progresses each time I end up in the hospital and have to take IV steroids, which fortunately only occurs about once every 4 or 5 years. I saw my pulmonologist just today and unfortunately he wants me to start back on inhaled steroids. I really don't want to do this, but like one physician once said when all of this first started, "if you can't breath- it does not matter if your ankle hurts or not"!!!

-- Velva Flick (strbryldy1@cox.net), November 03, 2003.