The effect of smoking on the outcomes of arthroscopic microfracture for osteochondral lesions of the talus

Although smoker group showed worse status of repaired cartilage on postoperative MRI, the smoker group reported comparable clinical outcomes to those of the nonsmoker group following arthroscopic microfracture for small to medium-sized OLT over a mean follow-up of 7 years. However, caution should be taken in interpreting our conclusion and further larger studies are needed for robust conclusions.