[Clinical anatomical study on the treatment of tarsal tunnel syndrome with four-point vertical acupotomy].

OBJECTIVE: To explore safety and accuracy of four-point acupotomy for the treatment of tarsal tunnel syndrome regarding release of ankle tunnel flexor retinaculum to provide an anatomical basis of clinical treatment. METHODS: Twenty-nine adult specimens (15 males and 14 females) fixed with 10% formalin, aged from 47 to 98 years old with an average age of (81.10±11.14) years old, 29 on the right side and 29 on the left side, which were selected for the study from September 2020 to October 2020. Simulate the operation of loosening flexor retinaculumt with a needle knife on the human specimen, and place the specimen on the frog position of lower limbs with medial malleolus upward to determine the center of medial malleolus. Choose 4 different positions near the flexor retinaculum to insert the needle so that the needle body was perpendicular to skin and cutting edge direction was perpendicular to the running direction of the flexor retinaculum. The needle knife penetrates the skin and explores slowly. When the flexor retinaculum was reached, the needle tip may touch the tough tissue. At this time, the cutting is loosened for 4 times. After acupotomy release operation was completed, make a lateral incision on the skin surface along acupotomy direction, open the area of the exposed flexor retinaculum, dissecting layer by layer, observe and record the needle knife and its surrounding anatomical structure. The length of acupotomy cutting marks of flexor retinaculum was measured by electronic vernier caliper. The safety and accuracy of acupotomy loosening of ankle canal flexor retinaculum were evaluated by observing the number and degree of ankle canal contents such as tendons and nerves injured by needle knife. The safety is to count the number of cases of acupotomy injury to the contents of the ankle canal, and to calculate the injury rate, that is, the number of injury cases/total cases × 100%. The effective release was defined as the release length L ≥ W/2(W is the width of the flexor retinaculum, defined as 20 mm). RESULTS: For safety, there were no acupotomy injuries to nerves or blood vessels in 58 cases, 26 cases injuried to posterior tibial tendon which 17 of these tendon injury cases, the tendon was penetrated and severely injured, and flexor digitorum longus tendon was injured in 12 cases. Among these cases, tendon was penetrated and severely injured in 4 cases, and total injury rate was 32.14%. No nerve and vessel injury on c3 and c4 point. For accuracy, 58 specimens were successfully released. The length Lc of releasing trace for acupotomy was (10.40±1.36) cm, and length range 6.38 to 12.88 cm. Among all cases, the length of releasing trace was ≥10 mm in 37 cases. The overall success rate of release was 100.00%. Layered structure of ankle tube flexor retinaculumt:fiber diaphragm from flexor retinaculum divides contents of ankle tube into different chambers inward, and fiber diaphragm meets here to synthesize a complete flexor retinaculum at the midpoint of the line between the medial malleolus tip and calcaneal tubercle(above the neurovascular course). CONCLUSION: Four-point needle-knife method of releasing flexor retinaculum for the treatment of tarsal tunnel syndrome is performed at the attachment of the two ends of flexor retinaculum;the tendon, but not the nerves and blood vessels, is easily damaged. It is safe to insert needle on the side of calcaneus. The extent of release is relatively complete, but due to the "layered" structure of the flexor retinaculum, classic surgical technique could only release one layer of flexor retinaculum when a needle is inserted at the edge of the bone and cannot achieve complete release of the full thickness of the flexor. Therefore, it remains to be determined whether the desired effect can be achieved clinically.

Acupotomy for patients with tarsal tunnel syndrome: A protocol for systematic review and meta analysis.

BACKGROUND: Tarsal tunnel syndrome (TTS) is a painful condition of the ankle that affects patients' quality of life and ability to work. Multiple clinical studies of nerve decompression by acupotomy have been published in China, and the results are encouraging. However, the efficacy and security of this treatment have not been evaluated scientifically and systematically. The purpose of this systematic review protocol is to evaluate the efficacy and security of acupotomy treatment in patients with TTS, which will be helpful to clinical acupotomy doctors. METHODS: Relevant randomized controlled trials will be identified by searching 9 databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Chinese literature databases, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, SinoMed, Technology Journal and the Wanfang Database. Randomized controlled trials examining the use of acupotomy for TTS patients will be identified independently by 2 reviewers by searching the databases from inception to March 2020. Clinical effects will be evaluated as the primary outcome. Visual analog scale scores will be assessed as a secondary outcome. Review Manager 5.3 will be used to perform a fixed effects meta-analysis, and the evidence level will be evaluated by using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation framework. Continuous outcomes will be presented as mean differences or standard mean differences, while dichotomous data will be expressed as relative risks. RESULTS: This study will evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupotomy in the treatment of TTS in randomized controlled trials with high-quality visual analog scale and Roles and Maudsley score. CONCLUSION: This systematic review will provide evidence to determine whether acupotomy is an effective intervention for patients with TTS. REGISTRATION NUMBER: DOI 10.17605/OSF. IO/9PYC2 (https://osf.io/9pyc2/).