The accessory navicular is occasionally the source of pain and local tenderness over the instep. If conservative measures fail, surgical treatment may be required and the results of 62 operations to one or both feet in 47 patients are reported. Twenty-six patients were treated by the Kidner operation, in which the main insertion of the tibialis posterior is re-routed; in the remaining 21 the ossicle was merely excised. Excision was as effective as the Kidner technique, provided that the medial surface of the main navicular bone was contoured to prevent any residual prominence. Both procedures were successful in relieving symptoms in the majority of cases and failures resulted from errors in the selection of patients or in the surgical technique. Correction of any associated flat foot was secondary to growth and maturation of the foot rather than to the operation; hence the Kidner procedure does not confer any particular advantages over simple excision.
A retrospective review of sixty children with seventy-eight congenitally dislocated hips who had pre-reduction traction at home was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the traction and the incidence of severe complications, with specific reference to the incidence and severity of avascular necrosis. Thirty other children with forty-two congenitally dislocated hips who had pre-reduction traction while in the hospital were used as controls. Traction failed to radiologically improve the position of the head in relation to the acetabulum in two hips in each group. The incidence of avascular necrosis was 17.9 percent in hips treated at home and 23.8 percent in hips treated in the hospital. The hospital control group demonstrated higher incidences of the more severe types of necrosis. Traction at home was found to be an advantageous alternative to traction in the hospital, in that it is safe, effective, and less costly; however, it must be stressed that proper patient selection and careful monitoring of the program are required.
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