Recurrence of Equinus Deformity in Cerebral Palsy Children after Orthopaedics Surgery, Long Term Follow-up Study

Abstract

Background and objectives : Equinus in cerebral palsy (CP) child affects standing balance and gait. Surgery is indicated after failure of conservative treatment. However, follow up after surgery are found recurrent equinus in some cases. The objectives of this study were (a) to identify recurrent rate of equinus after orthopaedics surgery in CP and analyze the factors related to recurrent (b) the information data will be useful for future plan of management in CP

Method : A retrospective study, collected data from medical record during January 1, 2000 to May 31, 2010. Ninety-five participants who underwent orthopaedics surgery in Srinagarind Hospital,  Faculty of Medicine,  Khon Kaen University. Analysis of data with Stata10, Texus USA 2007.

Result : Recurrent equinus was found in 21 cases (22.1%). Mean age when started surgery was 7.8 years(2-19.9 yr). Mean duration after surgery until recurrent equinus detected was 3.5 years(2-12.7yr). Recurrent rate of equinus after Tendo Achilles Lengthening(TAL) was 19.7% and 27% in Vulpius operation respectively.

Conclusion : Recurrent equinus after surgery was 22.1%. Patient who underwent Vulpius operation has higher rate of recurrent than TAL group. Equinus corrected with multilevel orthopaedics surgery result in lower recurrent rate than single level orthopaedics surgery.

Keywords : Cerebral palsy, Equinus, TAL