[Subtalar screw-arthroereisis for correction of flat foot in children].

UNLABELLED: Minimally invasive subtalar screw-arthroereisis has gained interest in the correction of flat feet in children. Between 1990 and 2004, this technique was used on 152 children, 74 bilaterally, for a total of 226 feet. There were 82 boys and 70 girls, with an average age of 10.6+/-1.9 years. The results were good in 95.4% of cases, whilst there were complications in 4.6%. For well corrected feet, 55 screws have now been removed, on average 2.9 years after implantation. The indications for such treatment are: talipes calcaneovalgus, which develops into a flat foot (spontaneous correction can be expected to 10-11 years), juvenile flat foot with medial protrusion of the talar head and complete absence of the longitudinal arch, symptomatic talipes calcaneovalgus with pain on the insertion of the tibialis posterior tendon, a minimum age of 6 years if a correction with conservative treatment does not show any improvement; a maximum age of 12-13 years considering that there always has to be a manual reducibility of the deformity. CONTRAINDICATIONS: posttraumatic flat foot, congenital flat foot, stiff flat foot, age over 13 years.