[Surgical treatment of pain caused by external tibial abnormality]

The authors discuss in short the accessory bones of the foot and their clinical significance. The table and the X-ray pictures present in detail six patients with external tibial bone in ten feet, causing pain in 7 feet. In all the operated on feet (including 4 in children), degenerative-deforming changes in the articulations between the accessory bone and the navicular bone were found. It was confirmed six times by histopathological examination. The authors think that the degeneration causing pain is itself an indication for removal of the accessory bone and that too few patients with this defect are treated surgically.