Early one-stage reconstruction of congenital vertical talus.

A simple, one-stage surgical reconstruction was performed on 20 feet with congenital vertical talus in 13 consecutive children. A newly devised outcome scoring system with seven clinical and eight radiographic parameters was utilized to determine correction of all feet at average follow-up of 41 months. There were no excellent, 17 good, 3 fair, and no poor results, with few associated perioperative complications. Clinically, mild postoperative stiffness of ankle and subtalar motion was occasionally noted. Radiographically, many feet had mild residual forefoot abduction with midfoot sagging at the talonavicular joint. Despite these mild postoperative abnormalities, good correction with plantigrade, painless feet was generally obtained when this procedure was performed in children younger than 27 months of age.