[Surgical Treatment of Congenital Cleft Foot - Case Study and Literature Review]

Congenital cleft foot is a deformity characterised by genetic heterogeneity and a high degree of phenotypic variability. This together with its very low incidence is the reason for rather controversial opinions on the treatment. The authors present a case study of a boy with unilateral cleft foot classified as type III by Blauth-Borisch and type II by Abraham et al., who underwent a surgery at the age of 12 months. The defect was closed by rectangular soft tissue flaps, the intermetatarsal ligament connecting the first metatarsal head and the third metatarsal head was reconstructed with local fibrous tissue flap. The present hypermobility with extension position of the first ray were stabilised by the Kirschner wire inserted along the axis of the first ray from the dorsum of the talus through the middle of its head to the medial chondrogenic tarsal bones and further through the first metatarsal bone and the corrected metatarsophalangeal joint of the hallux. At the age of 6 years and 7 months, due to dynamic abductovalgus foot deformity, lengthening calcaneal osteotomy was also performed. Favourable clinical and radiographic outcomes of the used surgical technique were observed by the authors. The cleft foot as such shall be treated after a thorough evaluation of the patient and his/her necessary monitoring during the childhood. Key words: ectrodactyly, cleft foot, split hand/foot malformation.