Pattern of congenital orthopaedic malformations in an African teaching hospital.

BACKGROUND

Congenital Orthopaedic malformations are common malformations that are usually unacceptable to the common populace in the West African sub-region. There is paucity of knowledge about the common types of Orthopaedic congenital malformations in our environment This study was undertaken to determine the pattern of congenital Orthopaedic malformations in a Teaching Hospital.

STUDY

DESIGN

This was a prospective study of all the Orthopaedic congenital malformations seen in our surgical outpatient departments and the inpatient referrals from the wards between January 1995 and December 2003.

RESULT: There were 284 patients in total with a male to female ratio of 2:1 and age range between two days to nine years. Clubfoot (CTEV) accounted for 52.8% of all the malformations while Congenital knee dislocation (CDK) and calcaneovalgus deformity accounted for 8%. Congenital hip dislocation (CDH) accounted for only 2.2% of all the cases.

CONCLUSION

Congenital talipes equinovarus deformity is the most common congenital orthopaedic malformation in this environment while congenital hip dislocation (CDH) is rare when compared with the Caucasians.