I had a closed ankle fracture (a crush) of my ankle in a car accident (cars hit us and we went head first into a telephone pole while I was slamming on the brake) 20 years ago this year. I have been waiting for the doctors to come up with a better option than a fusion (which I view as "not an opiton" becuase of all the side affects it causes - top of foot, hip, knee and back pain) or ankle replacement with what I call a "robo" ankle. I saw a specialist out of Mercy Hospital in Baltimore recently (Dr. Mark Myerson) who has offered me another option of an ankle transplant. I think I'm going to take it -they can still do the "robo" ankle if it doesn't work. They use a donor ankle and then coat it with stem cells they are going to take out of my hip. The doctor said it's a 50/50 chance it will work but I think it's worth it to try. He has one patient who had a successful one and is running marathons. I asked him about cartlidge replacement (which is being done experimentally in Australia) but he said that it will probably be 10 years before it's done in the U.S. I am confident in this surgeon as one of the former doctors I've been to left their practice at Johns Hopkins to train under this guy and is now in practice with him - he's also taught ankle surgery all over the world.