Greetings. I have two questions. First, I have been waiting for a graft for my ankle to have the OATS procedure done for nearly a year. My surgeon has moved in that time to Alaska so I cannot ask as many questions. The surgery is inevitable and I was just wondering if it's really as rare as it sounds for this procedure to be done in the Tailus (sp?). Also I have a very severe case of synovial chondromatosis and because of disability I haven't been able to retain medical insurance. I was wondering if there was any way to find clinical tests for this disease; ie, I wouldn't mind being a guiney pig. Thanks.

-- Shannon R Phillips (sphill0320@juno.com), October 14, 2004

Answers

OATS isn't that rare on the talas, but seems to be more common for the knee. I've seen several Dr's for my ankle problems and they have recommended OATS. I'm trying to find out more about it though, it seems to have become popular only recently.

-- Tim MacIntyre (tmacinty@mines.edu), February 10, 2005.