Club Foot Virtual Planning

Case overview

Club foot is an infrequent deformity — a congenital foot condition in which the forefoot is turned inward and downward and cannot be straightened. It is also known as congenital talipes equinovarus.

A surgical approach can offer a radical form of treatment, with the goal of restoring the ankle joint. This case involved a 31-year-old male patient affected with club foot. With the surgical approach, better planning helps make surgery more accessible and accurate.

Jajal Medical played a vital role by virtually planning the surgery: mapping out the first visualisation, planning the procedure, and providing a 3D pre-op model for visualisation and better understanding.

Segmentation

The region of interest was well captured by the scan and replicated in a 3D model for a better understanding of the deformity. The main goal was to provide a self-explanatory model helping the surgeon visualise information that can be missed in conventional 2D CT data.

Virtual planning

3D visualisation and a pre-op model helped the surgeon understand and analyse the deformity and anatomy of the club foot.

• The deformed talus bone was removed, then an osteotomy was performed on the distal part of the fibula
• Osteotomy was performed on the cuboid, navicular and calcaneus bones at the calcaneocuboid and talonavicular joints
• The navicular and cuboid, along with all other bones, were positioned to the distal fibula at the calcaneus region
• External rotation with medial translation and advancement achieved the correct foot angle in line with the axis
• The osteotomy was stabilised by fusion using fixation screws

Soft-tissue analysis

It was also necessary to understand the post-op soft-tissue alignment, and this was provided for better analysis.

Conclusion

Pre-planning the surgical approach and using a 3D pre-op model helped achieve accurate surgical results, and a straight foot angle.