The painful accessory navicular.

The accessory navicular is usually considered a normal anatomic and roentgenographic variant. The term may refer to two distinct patterns. First, a sesamoid bone may be present within the posterior tibial tendon (Type 1); this is anatomically separate from the navicular. Second, an accessory ossification center may be medial to the navicular (Type 2). During postnatal development this is within a cartilaginous mass that is continuous with the cartilage of the navicular. At skeletal maturity the accessory center usually fuses with the navicular to form a curvilinear bone. The Type 2 pattern may be associated with a painful foot, particularly in the athletic adolescent, and should not be arbitrarily dismissed as a roentgenologic variant in the symptomatic patient. The clinical, radiologic, pathologic, and surgical findings in ten cases are reviewed. Roentgenographically the ossicle is triangular or heart-shaped. 99mTc MDP imaging may be of value when the significance of the ossicle is uncertain. Even when the roentgenographic variant is bilateral, increased radionuclide activity occurs only on the symptomatic side. Histologic examination of surgically excised specimens reveals inflammatory chondro-osseous changes in the navicular-accessory navicular synchondrosis compatible with chronic trauma and stress fracture. Nonsurgical treatment with orthotics or cast immobilization produces variable results and resection of the accessory navicular may be the treatment of choice.