Percutaneous and Minimally Invasive Surgery for Acute Achilles Tendon Tears

A rupture of the Achilles tendon has a significant impact on a patient's function. Suboptimal treatment can produce an altered gait and can have a detrimental effect on sports performance and on activities of daily living. The goal of treatment always has to focus on restoring tendon length and strength as close as possible to a preinjury situation; however, optimal treatment for this rupture is still a matter of debate. Conservative treatment with immobilization and functional treatment has complication rates that range from 0% to 10%, whereas surgical complication rates could be as high as 34%, with wound-healing problems and sural nerve injuries as the most frequent issues. Although successful, conservative treatment has an inherent risk of rerupture, tendon elongation, prolonged rehabilitation, delayed recovery, and muscular weakness. The minimally invasive techniques to treat acute Achilles tendon ruptures have been developed to minimize the incidence of complications of surgical treatment. Today, there are many techniques, and their development focuses on restoring the previous strength of the triceps surae and accelerating the recovery time with more easygoing surgical techniques.