[The radiographical changes with age of the treated clubfoot].

One hundred and eighteen feet out of 83 cases of congenital clubfoot treated mainly by early posterior release were examined for changes with age in radiographical measurements. They were classified into three groups according to treatment courses. Group I is the cases treated conservatively, group II is the cases which received early posterior release and group III is the cases that needed other operations or treatment courses. In all groups, talo-calcaneal index (TC index) decreased and calcaneal pitch (CP) increased with age but no remarkable change occurred in talo-1st-metatarsal angle (TMA). Though the patterns of changes of all measurements in each group were similar to those of controls, the values were lower than controls' except CP. In TC index, the difference between controls and group II was about 20 degrees at each age. The mean TC index of group III was always the lowest in all groups. The mean TMA value differed about 10 to 15 degrees from those of controls in group I and II, and about 20 degrees in group III constantly till twelve years of age. The values of CP approached the controls' values gradually with age in all treatment groups. In order to maintain good radiographical findings, the values of TC index and TMA should be approached to those of control group after serial casts of initial treatment.