The Role of Foot Surgery in Progressive Neuromuscular Disorders in Children

Abstract

Fifteen children with either Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease or Friedreich's ataxia were evaluated in a long-term follow-up after having undergone surgery to correct their foot deformities. Soft-tissue procedures and bone procedures by themselves, excluding triple arthrodesis, did not stand the test of time. The one indication for their use was as a part of a staged plan of treatment. Of the twelve patients with satisfactory results, eleven ultimately had a triple arthrodesis at skeletal maturity. The operative results are discussed in relation to the heredofamilial modes of transmission and the variable progression of the two diseases.