Change in angle of depressed medial tibial plateau following extra-articular mechanical realignment surgery in children with Blount's disease who presented late for treatment

Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine whether any change in degree of medial tibia plateau depression after extra-articular mechanical realignment surgery was observed in children with Blount’s disease who presented late for treatment in their adolescent and young adulthood. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the radiographic parameters of 22 patients (32 lower limbs) with Blount’s disease who underwent gradual correction of deformity surgery using ring external fixator without surgical elevation of the depressed medial tibial plateau at a mean age of 15 (10–37) years. Preoperative and postoperative angles of depressed medial tibia plateau (ADMTP) of the same patient were compared for any significant change. Normally distributed data were analysed using Student’s t-test when comparing two groups or one-way ANOVA when comparing more than two groups. Skewed data were analysed using Mann-Whitney test. Results: After extra-articular mechanical alignment surgery, statistically significant improvements in medial tibial plateau depression were seen in the Infantile (p = 0.03) and Juvenile (p = 0.04) Blount’s subgroups. Change of ADMTP was greater in patients who were operated on at age < 17 years, before skeletal maturity (p = 0.001). The improvement was likely due to ossification of unossified cartilage at the posteromedial proximal tibia and remodelling potential of proximal tibia physis after mechanical realignment. Conclusion: Improvement of medial tibia plateau depression is possible after mechanical realignment without surgical hemiplateau elevation in cases of Infantile and Juvenile Blount’s disease that present late for treatment, especially when the operation is performed before age 17 years old.

Using Combinations of Both Clinical and Radiographic Parameters to Develop a Diagnostic Prediction Model Demonstrated an Excellent Performance in Early Detection of Patients with Blount’s Disease

Early identification of pathological causes for pediatric genu varum (bowlegs) is crucial for preventing a progressive, irreversible knee deformity of the child. This study aims to develop and validate a diagnostic clinical prediction algorithm for assisting physicians in distinguishing an early stage of Blount’s disease from the physiologic bowlegs to provide an early treatment that could prevent the progressive, irreversible deformity. The diagnostic prediction model for differentiating an early stage of Blount’s disease from the physiologic bowlegs was developed under a retrospective case-control study from 2000 to 2017. Stepwise backward elimination of multivariable logistic regression modeling was used to derive a diagnostic model. A total of 158 limbs from 79 patients were included. Of those, 84 limbs (53.2%) were diagnosed as Blount’s disease. The final model that included age, BMI, MDA, and MMB showed excellent performance (area under the receiver operating characteristic (AuROC) curve: 0.85, 95% confidence interval 0.79 to 0.91) with good calibration. The proposed diagnostic prediction model for discriminating an early stage of Blount’s disease from physiologic bowlegs showed high discriminative ability with minimal optimism.

Infantile Blount’s Disease: A case report of 3 years old female of Zhob, Pakistan

Background; Blount’s disease is a rare developmental disorder of children which causes progressive bowing of lower limbs. The term “Blount” was named after American orthopedic surgeon “Walter Putnam Blount” who first described this condition. The etiology of Blount’s disease is unknown but believed to be multifactorial. Various predisposing factors have been attributed including obesity, early walking, race, pre-existing varus, increased pressure on growth plate and nutrition. Blount’s disease has been suggested to be more frequent in African, Afro-american populations. Blount’s disease has to be differentiated from physiological bowing (physiologic genu varum) and rickets. Early diagnosis and treatment of Blount’s disease is essential as the disease process is reversible in early stage. Case; A three years old female child was brought by her mother with complaint of progressive bowing of both lower limbs for last one year. She achieved her milestones at appropriate age and started walking at 11 months of age without support. On examination, her height was 90 cms (at 10th centile) and weight was 17 kgs (at 90th centile). BMI (body mass index) was 20.9 (obese). There were no clinical signs or symptoms of rickets i.e frontal bossing, wide wrist, rachitic rosary, carpopedal spasm, fits or muscle weakness etc. Roentgenogram showed tibia in varus with a peculiar beak at metaphysic and raised metaphyseal-diaphyseal angle (>16 degrees). Serum calcium and serum vitamin D (25-hydroxy vitamin D) were normal. Serum alkaline phosphatase level was raised. Keeping in view typical history, examination findings and radiological epiphyseal beaking along with raised metaphyseal-diaphyseal angle, diagnosis of Infantile Blount’s disease was made. Conclusion; The clinicians should have a high suspicion of infantile blount’s disease when a child, more than 3 year’s age presents with severe varus deformity at proximal tibia with typical radiological findings. Characteristic radiologic findings along with history and examination help to distinguish it from physiologic bowing (physiologic genu varum) and rickets. Keywords; Blount’s disease, Physiologic genu varum, Rickets, Tibia vara, Osteochondrosis deformans tibiae

Acute correction of severe complex adolescent late-onset tibia vara by minimally invasive osteotomy and simple circular fixation: a case series with 2-year minimum follow-up

Background Despite multiple published reviews, the optimum method of correction and stabilisation of Blount’s disease remains controversial. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical and radiological outcomes of acute correction of late-onset tibial vara by percutaneous proximal tibial osteotomy with circular external fixation using two simple rings. Weighing up the pros and cons and to establish if this method would be the method of choice in similar severe cases especially in a context of limited resources. Methods This study was conducted between November 2016 and July 2020. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical notes and radiographs of 30 patients (32 tibiae) who had correction of severe late-onset tibia vara by proximal tibial osteotomy and Ilizarov external fixator. The mean age at the time of the operation was 16.6 (± 2.7) years (range 13–22). Results The mean proximal tibial angle was 65.7° (± 7.8) preoperatively and 89.8° (± 1.7) postoperatively (p < 0.001). The mean mechanical axis deviation improved from 56.2 (± 8.3) preoperatively to 2.8 (± 1.6) mm postoperatively (p < 0.001). The mean femoral-tibial shaft angle was changed from –34.3° (± 6.7) preoperatively to 5.7° (± 2.8) after correction, with degree of correction ranging from 25° to 45°. Complications included overcorrection (three cases 9%) and pin tract infection (eight cases 25%). The mean Hospital for Special Surgery knee scoring system (HSS) improved from 51.03 (± 11.24) preoperatively to 94.2 (± 6.8) postoperatively (p < 0.001). The mean length of follow up period 33.22 (± 6.77) months, (rang: 25–46 months). At final follow up, all patients had full knee range of motion and normal function. All cases progressed to union and there were no cases of recurrence of deformity. Conclusion This simple procedure provides secure fixation allowing early weight bearing and early return to function. It can be used in the context of health care systems with limited resources. It has a relatively low complication rate. Our results suggest that acute correction and simple circular frame fixation is an excellent treatment choice for cases of late-onset tibia vara, especially in severe deformities.

Deformity Reconstruction Surgery for Blount’s Disease

Blount’s disease is an idiopathic developmental abnormality affecting the medial proximal tibia physis resulting in a multi-planar deformity with pronounced tibia varus. A single cause is unknown, and it is currently thought to result from a multifactorial combination of hereditary, mechanical, and developmental factors. Relationships with vitamin D deficiency, early walking, and obesity have been documented. Regardless of the etiology, the clinical and radiographic findings are consistent within the two main groups. Early-onset Blount’s disease is often bilateral and affects children in the first few years of life. Late-onset Blount’s disease is often unilateral and can be sub-categorized as juvenile tibia vara (ages 4–10), and adolescent tibia vara (ages 11 and older). Early-onset Blount’s disease progresses to more severe deformities, including depression of the medial tibial plateau. Additional deformities in both groups include proximal tibial procurvatum, internal tibial torsion, and limb length discrepancy. Compensatory deformities in the distal femur and distal tibia may occur. When non-operative treatment fails the deformities progress through skeletal maturity and can result in pain, gait abnormalities, premature medial compartment knee arthritis, and limb length discrepancy. Surgical options depend on the patient’s age, weight, extent of physeal involvement, severity, and number of deformities. They include growth modulation procedures such as guided growth for gradual correction with hemi-epiphysiodesis and physeal closure to prevent recurrence and equalize limb lengths, physeal bar resection, physeal distraction, osteotomies with acute correction and stabilization, gradual correction with multi-planar dynamic external fixation, and various combinations of all modalities. The goals of surgery are to restore normal joint and limb alignment, equalize limb lengths at skeletal maturity, and prevent recurrence. The purpose of this literature review is to delineate basic concepts and reconstructive surgical treatment strategies for patients with Blount’s disease.

Turner’s syndrome associated with discoid lateral meniscus and Blount’s disease: a case report

Background Turner’s syndrome, discoid meniscus, and Blount’s disease have all been studied in isolation, but, to the best of our knowledge, there have been no studies reporting a patient with all three. Thus, the first case of Turner’s syndrome with discoid meniscus and Blount’s disease is presented. Case presentation A 5-year-old Japanese girl with a history of Turner’s syndrome and Blount’s disease complained of pain in her left knee. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a discoid lateral meniscus tear, and arthroscopic partial meniscectomy was performed, providing a good outcome. Conclusions In this report, some possible explanations regarding the concomitant presence of these three diseases are discussed. A possible explanation in this case is that the patient with Turner’s syndrome had a discoid lateral meniscus that might have been induced by some genetic factors associated with Turner’s syndrome, and then the discoid lateral meniscus might have been the mechanical stress that caused Blount’s disease.

Changes in the quality of life of patients with Blount’s disease undergoing simultaneous bilateral varus deformity correction with the use of the Ilizarov method.

IntroductionBlount’s disease is a growth disorder of the proximal tibia, which leads to the varus deformity and internal rotation of this bone. The treatment is mainly surgical and involves proximal tibial osteotomy and deformity correction. The aim of this study was to assess the change in the quality of life of patients with tibia vara deformity who underwent correction via the Ilizarov method.Material and methodsA total of 23 Blount’s disease patients who had undergone bilateral varus deformity correction with the Ilizarov method were included in this study. The following parameters were assessed retrospectively: duration of treatment with Ilizarov frames, baseline and postoperative values of the medial proximal tibial angle (MPTA) and mechanical axis deviation (MAD). The quality of life was assessed with a Short Form (SF)-36 survey.ResultsThe study population comprised 13 females and 10 males (mean age of 28.43), in whom the Ilizarov fixators were kept for an average duration of 106.65 days. MAD values diminished significantly after the surgery. We also observed significant increases in the MPTA values. The SF-36 scores increased across all of the questionnaire’s domains, which indicates a significant improvement in the postoperative quality of life.ConclusionsSimultaneous bilateral correction of the varus deformity with Ilizarov external fixators is a safe and effective treatment method. It helps reduce pain and improve gait, which translates to improving the quality of life in all its aspects. The duration of treatment depends to a large extent on the degree of patient cooperation, their attitude, and self-discipline.