Correlation between selective pedobarographic and radiographic measures in the assessment of surgically treated CTEV patients.

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to assess the correlation between selective pedobarographic and radiographic measures in patients with surgically treated congenital talipes equinovarus (CTEV).

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

We examined 50 patients [70 feet; 34 girls (68%) and 16 boys (32%); mean age 11.2 months; range 3-30.6 months] surgically treated for CTEV with a mean follow-up of 8.7 years (range 4.3 to 15 years). Patients had radiographic and pedobarographic measurements simultaneously. The right and left feet were assessed separately. The relationship between selective pedobarographs and standing weight-bearing radiographs of the foot was assessed by the Pearson's correlation coefficient and the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient.

RESULTS

There were moderate correlations between selective pedobarographic and radiographic measures in surgically treated CTEV patients. The strongest positive correlations were between the right heel rise and right anteroposterior calcaneal-5(th) metatarsal angle (r=0.54, p=0.001) and, the right anteroposterior talo-1(st) metatarsal angle (r=0.48, p=0.003). A similar strong positive correlation was observed between lateral tibiocalcaneal angle and left heel rise parameters (r=0.42, p=0.01).

CONCLUSION

There were moderate correlations between selective pedobarographic and radiographic measures of surgically treated CTEV. However, the pedobarographic measure is a direct measure of the contact force of the foot with the ground and therefore has a more direct functional implication than radiographic measures.