Arteriography in club foot

Abstract

Arteriography was done on fourteen children with nineteen typical, severe, untreated club feet. The age range of the patients was from 1.3 to 13.5 years (average, 6.3 years). Only three feet were found to have normal arterial anatomy. In the remaining sixteen feet the posterior tibial artery was the dominant structure; the anterior tibial artery was hypoplastic and ended at the ankle, so that no dorsalis pedis artery was present. After operative correction of the feet, no change was noted in the arteriograms of three patients. The importance of protecting the posterior tibial artery during operative correction is emphasized.