Triple arthrodesis: twenty-five and forty-four-year average follow-up of the same patients.

BACKGROUND: Triple arthrodesis is used to treat major deformities of the hindfoot and is often performed in young patients. The purpose of this study was to assess the long-term outcomes of triple arthrodesis in young patients.

METHODS: Sixty-seven feet of fifty-seven patients were evaluated at an average of twenty-five and forty-four years after triple arthrodesis. The most common indication for the operation was neuromuscular imbalance of the hindfoot, which was secondary to poliomyelitis in thirty-seven feet (55 percent), Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease in six (9 percent), spinal cord abnormalities in four (6 percent), cerebral palsy in three (4 percent), and Guillain-Barré syndrome in one (1 percent).

RESULTS: Fifty-two feet (78 percent) had some residual deformity after the arthrodesis. However, these deformities appeared to be nonprogressive between 1973 and 1994. Pseudarthrosis occurred in thirteen feet. Thirty feet or ankles (45 percent) were painful at the first follow-up evaluation, and thirty-seven feet or ankles (55 percent) were painful at the second follow-up evaluation. Of the thirty feet or ankles that were painful at the first follow-up evaluation, twenty-three were painful at the second follow-up evaluation. Of the thirty-seven feet or ankles that were not painful at the first follow-up evaluation, fourteen were painful at the second follow-up evaluation. Eighteen patients (32 percent) needed walking support at the time of the first follow-up, and thirty-nine patients (68 percent) needed it at the time of the second follow-up. Two of the patients who needed support at the first follow-up evaluation did not need it at the second follow-up evaluation. At the first follow-up evaluation, twenty-one ankles (31 percent) had no radiographic evidence of degenerative changes. However, by the second follow-up evaluation, all of the ankles had some degenerative changes. Similar progressive arthritic findings were noted at the naviculocuneiform and tarsometatarsal joints. According to the system of Angus and Cowell, the overall result at the time of the first follow-up was rated as good in fifty feet (75 percent) and as fair in seventeen feet (25 percent). At the time of the second follow-up, nineteen feet (28 percent) were rated as good, forty-six (69 percent) were rated as fair, and two (3 percent) were rated as poor.

CONCLUSIONS: Despite progressive symptoms and radiographic degeneration in the joints of the ankle and midfoot, fifty-four patients (95 percent) were satisfied with the result of the operation. The triple arthrodesis was a satisfactory solution for imbalance of the hindfoot in this group of patients.