The Treatment of Congenital Clubfoot by Ponseti Method

Clubfoot is a complex foot malformation that occurs separately from other bone and joint malformations. Beginning with the year 2003, the team of the Department of Pediatric Orthopedics of the Rehabilitation Clinical Hospital Cluj-Napoca was the first to have applied the Ponseti method in our country for the treatment of clubfoot. In the period 2011-2013, 51 children passed the inclusion criteria in this group: 33 boys and 18 girls. Correction with the Ponseti method required 1 to 7 casts. The period needed for corrections varied from 1 to 6 weeks. The percutaneous tenotomy of the Achilles’ tendon was necessary in 68 feet (92%). At the age of 18 months, 2 patients, i.e. 4 feet (5%) needed correction completion by postero-medial release. The Ponseti method is safe, efficient in the conservative treatment of clubfoot and decreases the number of surgical interventions needed for the correction of the deformation.