Abstract
Purpose
Rickets is a recurrent disease worldwide, especially in countries with limited resources (Nield et al Am Fam Physician 74(4):619–626, 2006; Thacher et al Ann Trop Paediatr 26(1):1–16, 2006). Medical therapy including orally administered calcium substitution is shown to improve a patients clinical symptoms and positively impact bone deformities, especially in the lower extremity. Even though orthopaedic intervention is necessary in a significant percentage of patients, few reports exist about operative deformity correction in patients wtih rickets.
Methods
We describe our concept of operative treatment by single-stage, three-dimensional closing-wedge osteotomies on 45 deformed legs in 27 patients from the rural area of Kaduna, North Nigeria, with calcium-deficiency rickets and evaluate the early results in a 1.5-year follow-up.
Results
We found a significant improvement in parameters of quality of life, functionality, clinical and radiological angulation and angles following the definition of Paley et al., with a complication rate of 4 % under 88 osteotomies (Paley et al Orthop Clin North Am 25(3):425–65, 1994).
Conclusion
The described operative therapy shows to be sufficient and with satisfactory results in correcting rickets-related leg deformities under rural circumstances with low availability of medical resources.
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Wesselsky, V., Kitz, C., Jakob, F. et al. Description and evaluation of operative deformity correction in calcium-deficiency rickets in Kaduna, northern Nigeria. International Orthopaedics (SICOT) 40, 653–658 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-015-2911-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-015-2911-7