Surgical treatment results for flexible flatfoot in adolescents

Abstract

Objective: Idiopathicflexible pes planus (IFPP) is a common foot problem in adolescents and youngadults. Hypothesis for the present study was that combination of procedures for IFPP can achieve resultsin adolescents and young adults that are as good as those seen in adult-acquired pes planovalgus (AAPP)treatment in adults.Methods: A total of 21 feet of 18 patients (10 boys, 8 girls) with mean age of 15.6 years underwent surgicalreconstruction forflatfoot deformity. Symptomatic patients who had been unresponsive to conservativetreatment were included in study group. Mean follow-up time was 39.2 months. American OrthopedicFoot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) scores were calculated for all patients, and based onŞnal results, allfamilies were asked whether or not they would elect to have the surgery again in same circumstances.Results: All procedures were performed by the same surgeon: lateral column calcaneal lengtheningosteotomy on 21 feet; percutaneous lengthening or gastrocnemius recession for Achilles tendon on 21feet; medializing calcaneal osteotomy on 15 feet;flexor digitorum longus tendon transfer on 15 feet;medial cuneiform opening wedge osteotomy on 5 feet, spring ligament plication on 3 feet, and accessorynavicular bone excision on 2 feet.Preoperative mean AOFAS score increased signiŞcantly from 56.76 to 95.29. All parents stated that theywere satisŞed with surgery results and would choose to have the same surgery performed again.Conclusion: Soft tissue and bony procedures used for reconstruction of AAPP can be used safely for IFPPin adolescents and young adults.Level of clinical evidence: Level IV, Therapeutic study.© 2016 Turkish Association of Orthopaedics and Traumatology. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This isan open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)