Clinical and radiologic comparison of "idiopathic" and "neurogenic" pes cavus

Abstract

41 patients with 66 cavus feet were reviewed clinically and radiologically according to the parameters of Dennemann at an average age of 41.3 years. The etiology was a so-called "idiopathic pes cavus" in 51 per cent of the cases, in the others, a neurological basic disease (15 per cent condition after poliomyelitis, 3 per cent meningocele, 6 per cent Friedreich's ataxia, 10.5 per cent other neurological disorders) or condition after congenital club foot or trauma. Exact neurological and electrodiagnostic examination of the cavus feet primarily staged as idiopathic revealed sensory or motor loss in 74 per cent of the cases. A comparison of the "idiopathic cavus feet" with the cavus feet in neurological basic diseases with respect to the radiological parameters showed no significant differences concerning progression and osteoarthritis. Conservative and surgical measures were carried out with roughly the same success. In 36 cases (55 per cent), however, complaints on the part of the ankle joint and the talo-calcaneonavicular joint and the metatarsal head were noted.