Magnetic resonance imaging of skewfoot

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging was used to visualize the ossified and unossified portions of the bones and soft tissues of the feet in order to evaluate the tarsometatarsal anatomy in sixteen children, three months to six years old (mean, fifteen months old), who were seen in the orthopaedic clinic with a suspected diagnosis of skewfoot. Twenty-seven feet were clinically abnormal and five were normal. Of the abnormal feet, twenty-six had a radiographic diagnosis of skewfoot and one, of simple metatarsus adductus. Of the skewfeet, seven had a talocalcaneal angle of 45 degrees or more as measured on the lateral radiograph and six had a talocalcaneal angle of 45 degrees or more as measured on the anterior radiograph. Valgus deformity of the hindfoot was not apparent on clinical examination in any of the children. The talocalcaneal angles measured on the magnetic resonance images corresponded poorly with those measured on the radiographs, possibly because it is not possible to simulate weight-bearing during magnetic resonance imaging or because the effect of partial volume averaging on thin sections. However, magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated the shapes of the bones and the positions of the unossified portions of the bones. Magnetic resonance imaging showed lateral subluxation of the navicular in twenty-four skewfeet, plantar subluxation in ten, and medial subluxation of the first metatarsal on the medial cuneiform in twenty-five. The alignment of the lateral margin of the calcaneus and cuboid on the magnetic resonance images was normal in all patients. Magnetic resonance imaging has the unique ability to show the cartilaginous and ossified portions of the developing bones of the foot.