Functional results at the end of skeletal growth in 30 patients affected by congenital pseudoarthrosis of the tibia

From a multicentric study on Congenital Pseudoarthrosis of the tibia (CPT) conducted on 340 patients, we evaluated the functional results on a group o f thirty patients who were at the end of skeletal growth (age less than or equal to 16 years). The prognosis of CPT is very much related to the radiol ogic classification. Crawford type 2 and Crawford type 4 pseudoarthrosis ha ve a worse prognosis, with a lower percentage of fusion at the site of pseu doarthrosis. Crawford 4 patients have the worst functional results. Most of them showed a severe leg length discrepancy, needed a permenent brace, wit h an ankle joint function fair or poor. The presence of fibula pseudoarthro sis seems to be responsible for most of the worst functional results. The l evel of deformity caused by either the natural course of the disease or its treatment, is decisive in the evalution of the functional results.