Objective To explore the short-term clinical outcomes of ankle arthrodesis for the treatment of posttraumatic ankle arthritis.Methods Retrospectively study the data of 47 patients with posttraumatic ankle arthritis who were followed up after receiving ankle arthrodesis from January 2008 to May 2012.There were 28 males and 19 females,with an average age of 44 years (range,14-72 years).All of them wereclassified into stage-3 arthritis according to Morrey-Wiedeman,among whom 31 had obvious foot varus deformity or equines deformity,and 16 were almost normal in appearance.The ankle joint function of patients were assessed by Kofoed,American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle and hindfoot score,Maryland foot score systems and visual analog scale (VAS) preoperatively and at the last follow-up.Results The patients were followed up from 5 to 52 months (average,25 months).All the ankles got fused at the last follow-up,with one receiving removal of internal fixation and debride because of infection.Forty-three patients were satisfied with or without reservations; the others thought it so.The satisfaction rate was 91.5％(43/47).The Kofoed,AOFAS,Maryland foot scores and VAS were significantly improved from 48.11 ±5.00,53.38±5.52,49.74±5.71,7.89±0.87 to 80.96±6.07,82.21±4.26,88.94±5.14,2.28±1.10 respectively at the last follow-up.The normotopia X-ray of ankle joint showed that there were 22 cases in which the ankle got fused at neutral position,19 cases in which the eversion was less than 5°,3 cases in which the eversion was between 5° to 10°,2 cases in which the varus was less than 5°,and 1 case in which the varus was between 5° to 10°.Lateral X-ray showed that there were 32 cases in which the ankle got fused in dorsiflexion neutral position,12 cases plantar flexion 5°,and 3 cases plantar flexion 5° to 10°.Conclusion Ankle arthrodesis is still the preferable surgical treatnent option in patients with end-stage ankle arthritis,which shows high reliability and effectively in correcting deformity,pain relieving and function improvement.