RADIOGRAPHIC ABNORMALITIES OF THE TALUS IN PATIENTS WITH CLUBFOOT AFTER SURGICAL RELEASE USING THE MCKAY TECHNIQUE.

Objective: To analyze morphological abnormalities of the talus in patients with clubfoot after surgical treatment using the McKay technique.

Method: Lateral standing-position radiographs of the feet of 14 patients with unilateral clubfoot who underwent treatment by means of the doubleincision McKay technique were retrospectively analyzed. All the patients were operated by the same surgeon, with an average of 6.53 years between surgery and the radiograph. We compared the radiographic characteristics of the talus between the operated and the contralateral foot. We assessed the presence of deformity of the talar dome and head (sphericity evaluation); the talar length and height; the percentage and degree of navicular subluxation; abnormalities of the Gissane angle; and the trabecular bone pattern.

Results: Abnormalities of the talar head occurred in 92.8% of the patients; of the talar dome in 92.8%; and of the trabecular pattern in 100%. The talar length ratio between the operated and the contralateral foot ranged from 0.61 to 0.88 (mean 0.79; SD = 0.09), while the height ratio ranged from 0.57 to 0.98 (mean 0.82; SD = 0.12). The Gissane angle was greater in all of the operated feet, and all of them also showed navicular subluxation, at a rate ranging from 6.43 to 59.75% (mean 26.34%; SD = 16.66%).

Conclusion: Talar abnormalities occurred in 100% of the feet treated using the McKay technique. It was shown that establishing radiographic parameters to describe and quantify these deformities was feasible, through simple and easy-to-perform techniques.