Causes of Failure of Conservative Treatment of Club Foot

Abstract

Background:  Club foot is a global problem with an estimated incidence of 1 in 1000 live births.¹ It causes deformity and disability of the foot. This deformity is treated conservatively by serial plaster castings initially but in case of failure of this method surgical correction of the deformity is done. This study was designed to find out the factors that caused failure of the conservative treatment.

Study Design:  Cross sectional.

Sample size:  There were 50 patients with 78 club feet.

Targeted Population:  All the patients with club foot deformity those presented in the outpatient Department of Orthopedics Surgery and Traumatology Unit-I, King Edward Medical University / Mayo Hospital Lahore, were included in this study.

Results:  The average age of patients at the time of presentation for treatment was 9.3 weeks. Male to female ratio was 1.54:1. There were 32 unilateral 18 bilateral deformities. 54 Calves were thin.

Conclusion:  In this study all the patients presented for delayed treatment. During this time even soft and supple club foot deformities became rigid and required surgery for their correction Males were affected more than the females which is com-parable with other similar studies. More patients had bilateral club foot deformity. Among the unilateral cases right foot was more involved than the left. All the patients had severe deformity. There were more patients with thin calves. It was due to retracting fibrosis of soft tissues which resulted in rigidity of the deformity and caused failure of the conservative treatment.

Key Words:  Club foot Surgery.