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My husband is having a growth in ankle bone. Does it need surgery?
My husband has been suffering with a huge bone growth in his ankle bone. What is the cause of this? Will it need to be operated. He is also diabetic, will that have any implications on his healing post surgery?
9 Answers
If its painful and growing an Orthopedic Doctor needs to look at it and decide if it needs surgery.
Imaging will need to be done to determine what is the diagnosis of the mass. It the mass is causing pain and/or getting bigger or it is weakening/damaging the bone than surgery is indicated.
Any type of growth should be evaluated as a growth can be many things. I would recommend an evaluation with foot and ankle specialist.
It may require surgery. It depends on what is causing the growth.
It sounds like your husband may have a destroyed joint (Charcot). He should consult with an Orthopaedic surgeon and get an X-ray to determine what is causing the deformity.
If he has advanced diabetes, non-surgical treatment is better.
Operating on diabetics can be complicated. You will need to figure out the reason for this growth in your husband's ankle prior to deciding on surgery.
It is very difficult to determine what a "growth" on the ankle bone is made of without imaging studies. An X-ray, MRI, or CT scan would be very helpful to your doctors to know what the next steps would be. Sometimes these things will need surgery but sometimes just bracing. He needs to be evaluated to determine the nature of the growth.
I'm a spine surgeon. Best to see Dr. Alexis Dixon for eval 310-574-0400