ALTERATIONS IN TALAR MORPHOLOGY ASSOCIATED WITH ADULT FLATFOOT

To gain a better understanding of the anatomy of the factors contribut ing to symptomatic flatfoot, we compared the shape of the talus in fee t that were flat to that in control tall from feet with a normal arch. Computed tomographic (CT) scans were performed on 9 adult patients wi th 10 symptomatic flatfoot deformities. CT scans of 10 feet being eval uated for acute trauma not involving the talus were randomly selected as controls. Flatfoot tall tended to be of greater overall length than the control tall, and this difference was not statistically significa nt. Statistically significant differences were found when comparing ra tios of talar length with talar width (P = 0.011), talar length with t alar height (P = 0.001) (they were long relative to their height and w idth), and head length with head width (P = 0.001) for individual tall from the two groups. The tali from the flatfoot group were narrower i n width and shorter in height when compared with overall length and ha d heads that were more elongated in the transverse plane than tall in feet with a normal appearance. Clinical correlation: When performing s urgical correction of a flatfoot in an adult, appearance of the foot r ather than standard radiographic parameters should be used to judge th e reduction. The altered shape of the bone may alter the standard radi ographic parameters.