Hindfoot Varus Deformity: An Essential but Easily Neglected Pathological Change in Müller-Weiss Disease

CATEGORY: Hindfoot; Midfoot/Forefoot; Other INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE: The key pathology of Müller-Weiss Disease (MWD) is fragmentation of the lateral pole of the navicular which leads to lateral rotation of the talar head, inversion of the subtalar joint, and eventually collapse of the medial arch with a paradoxical flatfoot deformity since the varus heel persists. Treatment for MWD should be based on an understanding of this unusual hind and midfoot deformity in order to achieve ideal outcomes. For years however, some authors have treated MWD as a flatfoot deformity instead of correction of the varus heel. This study used weightbearing CT (WBCT) images to demonstrate the structural and alignment changes of the hindfoot and medial arch in patients with MWD compared to those of controls and patients with adult acquired flatfoot deformity (AAFD). METHODS: Twelve patients with 17 feet from two medical centers with a clinical diagnosis of MWD were retrospectively reviewed. Ten feet with flexible AAFD were chosen as the flatfoot control group. Ten feet without deformity, arthritis, a history of trauma, or prior surgical history in the foot and ankle were chosen as normal controls. The hindfoot moment arm (HMA), foot and ankle offset (FAO), middle facet subluxation (MFS), talonavicular joint coverage angle (TNCA), and the percentage of calcaneocuboid joint subluxation (CCS) measured on WBCT were used to assess the alignment of the hindfoot and peritalar joints. The arch height index was used to assess the height of the medial arch. Positive was used to reflect lateral subluxations and negative was for the medial ones. ANOVA test were used to compare data among the three groups with a normal distribution, while Wilcoxon test were used for non normal distribution. RESULTS: According to WBCT analysis, patients with MWD showed totally different hindfoot alignment and peritalar subluxation characteristics compared to the AAFD and the normal control groups. In the order of MWD, AAFD and control, the mean HMA values were -3.44 mm, 15.75 mm, and 3.19 mm, FAO values were -0.72%, 7.42%, and 2.63%. TNCA values were -7.18, 22.11, and 11.37; MFS values were 14%, 45%, and 23%; CCS values were -0.19, 0 and -0.04. The arch height index values were 0.46, 0.45, and 0.58. There was statistically significant difference among the three groups in all the above parameters except the middle facet subluxation and fifth metatarsal medial cuneiform height ratios between the MWD group and the normal controls. CONCLUSION: This study confirmed that hindfoot varus is a typical feature of MWD. And this is the first study to demonstrate that peritalar subluxation is an important marker. With lateral rotation of the talar head, the subtalar joint is driven into varus, with medial subluxation of both the middle facet and the calcaneocuboid joint, resulting in peritalar subluxation opposite to that of AAFD. No significant difference between the medial arch of the MWD group and the controls was present. In conclusion, structural changes of the midfoot and hindfoot totally different from the characteristics of AAFD are present in MWD.