Achilles tendon rupture is one of the most common and challenging injuries in sports medicine, especially prevalent in jumping sports such as badminton, basketball, volleyball, and soccer. Traditional treatment methods mostly adopt large-incision open surgery, where the incision length is typically between eight and fourteen centimeters.

Although this surgical method allows direct exposure of the rupture site for suturing, it is associated with a high rate of complications, including poor wound healing, an infection rate as high as 15%, and a tendon re-rupture rate of approximately 7%. These problems not only prolong the patient's recovery period, often requiring more than six months to resume normal activities, but can even cause professional athletes to lose playing opportunities, affecting their career development.

Technical Breakthroughs and Clinical Outcomes

Against this clinical background, the Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital team pioneered the ultrasound-guided minimally invasive Achilles tendon suture surgery, providing patients with a completely new treatment option. The biggest breakthrough of this technique is the minimal incision, requiring only 0.8 to one centimeter, significantly reducing tissue destruction compared to traditional surgery.

The surgery time is also shortened to thirty minutes, nearly half that of traditional surgery. More importantly, clinical data shows that after more than four hundred patients underwent this surgery, the complication rate for infection and poor wound healing was only 0.9%, significantly lower than traditional surgery. The patient's recovery period is also shortened from six months to three months, allowing them to return to daily life and the sports field faster.

Support from Functional Assessment

Functional assessment data further supports the clinical value of this technique. Taking the AOFAS (American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society score) as an example, the patient's average pre-operative score was 63 points, which increased to 94 points post-operation, demonstrating significant improvements in pain relief, functional improvement, and gait restoration. Concurrently, the VAS pain scale also decreased from seven points pre-operatively to zero to one point post-operatively, indicating a very obvious improvement in the patient's subjective feeling. These results not only reflect the safety of the surgery but also highlight the speed and quality of the patient's functional recovery.

Technical Comparison and Clinical Advantages

Compared to other techniques, the advantages of ultrasound-guided minimally invasive surgery are even clearer. While traditional open surgery is familiar to perform, the large incision, high infection rate, and long recovery period impose a heavy burden on the patient. Minimally invasive surgery without ultrasound guidance can reduce the incision to five to eight centimeters, but still carries a risk of complications and lacks sufficient positional accuracy. In contrast, ultrasound-guided minimally invasive surgery not only has the smallest incision, the lowest complication rate, and the fastest recovery speed, but also allows clear identification of the sural nerve and blood vessels during surgery, reducing the risk of injury.

Extensibility of Indications
Notably, the indications for this technique are not limited to acute Achilles tendon rupture. Clinical applications have been extended to other tendinopathies such as Achilles tendon insertional osteopathy combined with Achilles tendonitis, Achilles tendon or calf fascia release surgery, and even shoulder rotator cuff repair. This shows that ultrasound-guided minimally invasive technology possesses a high degree of extensibility, providing safe and effective treatment across various tendon pathology scenarios.
Clinical Significance and Promotion Value
Overall, ultrasound-guided minimally invasive Achilles tendon suture surgery demonstrates significant clinical value. It not only enhances patient safety and reduces the complication rate, but also improves surgical efficiency and reduces healthcare resource consumption. More importantly, it accelerates the patient's functional recovery, allowing them to return to normal life and sports in a shorter time. For clinicians, this technique represents a treatment option that combines both safety and efficiency, making it worthy of in-depth learning and promotion.