Surgical resection of the symptomatic tarsal coalitions

Abstract

Introduction: Tarsal coalition is the congenital fusion of one or more bones of the tarsus and affects mainly the talocalcaneal and calcaneonavicular joints. It happens in less than 1% of the general population; although, on anatomical studies on corpses, it reaches upto 6%. Objectives: Show the results of the surgical treatment through the resection of the symptomatic tarsal coalitions. Methods: Twenty-one feet of 14 patients were treated, totaling ten talocalcaneal and 11 calcaneonavicular coalitions. In the calcaneonavicularcoalitions, we performed a block resection of the coalition, with subcutaneous fat tissue interposition, and, in the talocalcaneous, the resection was done in layers, without fat tissue interposition. The average age at the moment of surgery was 12.63 for the calcaneonavicular and 12.40 for the talocalcaneal. The average follow-up time was 39.33 months. Bilaterality was found in 50% of the cases and the right side was more affected, with 11 feet. Results: In the evaluation of the post operative results, we used clinical parameters: pain and recovery or not of hindfoot mobility. We obtained nine (81.81%) excellent results and two (18.19%) poor ones in the calcaneonavicular, and five excellent (50%), three good (30%), one regular (10%) and one poor (10%) in the talocalcaneal coalitions. We did not observe recurrence or other complications. Conclusions: The resection of the bone bars in young patients was effective in pain relief and hindfoot mobility. There was no significant difference in the results when we compared the resections in the talocalcaneal coalitions with the calcaneonavicular ones.