Correlation between selective pedobarographic and radiographic measures in the assessment of surgically treated CTEV patients

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to assess the correlation between selective pedobarographic and radiographic measures in patients with surgically treated congenital talipes equinovarus (CTEV).
Patients and methods: We examined 50 patients [70 feet; 34 girls (68%) and 16 boys (32%); mean age 11.2 months; range 3-30.6 months] surgically treated for CTEV with a mean follow-up of 8.7 years (range 4.3 to 15 years). Patients had radiographic and pedobarographic measurements simultaneously. The right and left feet were assessed separately. The relationship between selective pedobarographs and standing weight-bearing radiographs of the foot was assessed by the Pearson’s correlation coefficient and the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.
Results: There were moderate correlations between selective pedobarographic and radiographic measures in surgically treated CTEV patients. The strongest positive correlations were between the right heel rise and right anteroposterior calcaneal-5th metatarsal angle (r=0.54, p=0.001) and, the right anteroposterior talo-1st metatarsal angle (r=0.48, p=0.003). A similar strong positive correlation was observed between lateral tibiocalcaneal angle and left heel rise parameters (r=0.42, p=0.01).
Conclusion: There were moderate correlations between selective pedobarographic and radiographic measures of surgically treated CTEV. However, the pedobarographic measure is a direct measure of the contact force of the foot with the ground and therefore has a more direct functional implication than radiographic measures.