Results of the treatment of congenital clubfoot and its relapses in children: outcomes of 8-year surgical practical work

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate the results of minimally invasive surgical treatment of congenital idiopathic clubfoot and its relapses in children. Material and methods. The results of the treatment of 78 children with congenital idiopathic clubfoot (main group) over the period of 2010-2018 were analyzed in comparison with the results of the treatment of 41 children with relapsed congenital clubfoot, the primary treatment of which had been performed before 2010 (comparison group). Results. It has been found that in the treatment of congenital clubfoot using the Ponseti method relapses occur in no more than 21.79 % cases, and in traditional treatment - in 57.74% cases. The surgical treatment of the relapses using the Ponseti method is to perform release operations on the tendon-ligament apparatus from minimally invasive accesses, whereas cases of rigid chronic deformities require extensive releases on soft tissues, as well as resection-arthrodesis interventions on the joints of the foot. Conclusion. In the treatment of children with congenital clubfoot using the Ponseti method, the rate of relapses is twice as low as that in the application of traditional methods. Relapses in the treatment of congenital clubfoot in children occur mainly at the age of 5. Repeated relapses of foot deformation after the performance of minimally invasive operations did not occur during the study.