A preliminary review of the use of deep peroneal neurectomy for the treatment of painful midtarsal and tarsometatarsal arthritis.

This report describes a retrospective analysis of chart and radiographic data pertaining to 10 consecutive cases performed over a 30-month period, undertaken in an effort to evaluate the preliminary efficacy of denervation for pain relief in high-risk surgical candidates with midfoot and tarsometatarsal joint arthritis. Ten patients (13 feet) were treated, and objective and subjective assessments were obtained using an index of subjective patient satisfaction. Results revealed 9 (69.2%) feet from 7 (70%) patients had greater than 75% relief. Two (15.4%) feet from 2 (20%) patients had at least 50% improvement and 2 (15.4%) feet from 1 (10%) patient claimed no relief. Our results indicate that this method of treatment can be an effective way to relieve pain associated with arthrosis involving the midfoot and tarsometatarsal joints.

The opening base wedge osteotomy and subsequent lengthening of the first metatarsal: an in vitro study.

UNLABELLED: Traditionally, the opening base wedge osteotomy has been indicated in a moderate to severe hallux abducto valgus deformity with a short first metatarsal. This in vitro study aimed to address the question of how much lengthening is inherent to the geometric design of an opening wedge in the first metatarsal. The preosteotomy length of a first metatarsal segment was compared with postosteotomy length after performing transverse and oblique basilar osteotomies while maintaining the opening wedge with a prefabricated spacer. In the current bench study, it was found that the opening base wedge osteotomy does indeed lengthen the first metatarsal, albeit a small percentage of the total length (1%-2.8%), and there was no significant difference between the lengths achieved through a transverse or oblique osteotomy based on a confidence interval of 95%. LEVEL OF CLINICAL EVIDENCE: 5.