On today’s episode we’re focusing on Achilles tendon ruptures with Dr. Bonnie Chien. We have some great articles for you that contribute well to our conversation on the optimal management of Achilles tendon ruptures and the different surgical approaches. As always, links to all of the papers that we discuss on this show can be found on our podcast website – www.thesportsdocspod.com

We’ll start off our discussion today with an article from the April 2012 issue of CORR titled “MRI is Unnecessary for Diagnosing Acute Achilles Tendon Ruptures.” Yes, it is an oldie. But we do think it sparks an interesting discussion about the utility of MRI in the setting of a clear Achilles tendon rupture.

This study retrospectively compared 66 patients with acute Achilles ruptures and pre-op MRI with a control group of 66 patients without a pre-op MRI who were indicated for surgery by clinical diagnostic criteria alone.

Criteria was: (1) an abnormal Thompson test, (2) decreased resting tension and (3) a palpable defect. The authors found that these clinical findings were 100% sensitive for a complete Achilles rupture.

It took patients an average of 5 days to obtain the MRI after injury and 12 days for surgical intervention. In comparison, patients in the control group were taken for surgery at an average of 5.6 days after injury. No additional procedures were required in the control group compared to 19 patients in the MRI group.

The authors concluded that physical exam was more sensitive than MRI and that MRI is time-consuming, expensive and can lead to treatment delays which may be associated with a need for additional procedures at the time of surgery.

Then, from the April 2022 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, we review an article titled “Nonoperative or Surgical Treatment of Acute Achilles Tendon Rupture.” This multicenter randomized controlled trial compared nonoperative treatment, open repair, and minimally invasive repair in 554 patients with an acute Achilles tendon rupture. The authors concluded that that 12 months post-treatment, surgery was not associated with better outcomes than nonsurgical treatment. However, 11 patients in the nonoperative group sustained a re-rupture compared to 1 patient in the open repair group and 1 patient in the minimally invasive repair group.

We are joined today by Dr. Bonnie Chien, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and Assistant Professor at Columbia University who specializes in foot and ankle conditions. She received her medical degree from Stanford University and then completed her orthopedic residency at Harvard Medical School with Catherine and I. She then went on to complete a foot and ankle fellowship at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. 

Dr. Chien is passionate about global health and has traveled internationally to teach and perform foot and ankle surgeries. She is fluent in Chinese and English and speaks conversational Spanish. Dr. Chien has lectured extensively on the topic of Achilles, so we’re very excited to hear all that she has to share on this topic today.