Naviculo-cuneiform coalition--report of three cases.

Naviculo-cuneiform coalition is a very rare condition and has only been reported by Lusby and Miki. We hereby describe three cases of this condition. The chief complaint was mild pain in the midfoot region especially after physical activity. There were no detectable deformities such as calcaneo-valgus, flatfoot or peroneal spastic foot, moreover the range of motion of the subtalar joint appeared to be normal. Conventional tomography confirmed coalition in two out of our three cases. 99mTc-MDP bone scintigraphy may be useful as a screening procedure. In past the pain associated with tarsal coalition was considered to result from the decreased range of motion in the fused joint due to ossification. However, our study have indicated that pain appeared to originate from the weakness of the cartilagenous bridges relative to the weight-bearing force over the naviculo-cuneiform joint.