Flexor to extensor tendon transfer for curly toes. 43 children reviewed after 8 (1-25) years.

Department of Orthopedics, Morriston Hospital, Swansea, United Kingdom.

43 children treated by flexor-to-extensor transfer for a total of 130 curly toes were retrospectively reviewed after a mean period of 8 years. According to an objective scoring system, 37 patients had a satisfactory result and 6 patients had a poor result of one or more toes. We now recommend that children with mild to moderate curly toes should be observed until the age of 6 years, by which time the majority will have had spontaneous correction. The remaining patients should be operated on at that stage because children operated on later had poor results. Attention should be paid to the surgical technique because the long flexor tendons are often bipartite.

PMID: 1529701 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]