Idiopathic congenital talipes equinovarus; not always an isolated anomaly. A review of long-term outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the long-term outcomes of children at school age who were thought to have isolated idiopathic congenital talipes equino varus (ICTEV) at birth.

METHOD: A retrospective review of all children attending a regional talipes clinic who had achieved school age.

RESULTS: One hundred sixty-three children were followed up. ICTEV was more common in Maori and other Polynesian children and in males. Additional abnormalities were apparent in 30.1% overall, but higher in New Zealand Europeans (43%) than Maori (21%) or other Polynesians (22%). Of the abnormalities, 41% were associated with the central nervous system or with neurodevelopmental delay. Conventional G-band karyotyping, where performed, was not informative.

CONCLUSIONS: The rate of additional abnormalities was higher than previous reports. This has implications for prenatal counseling and postnatal follow-up as a prenatal diagnosis of ICTEV may subsequently be found to have longer term implications in addition to orthopedic treatments of the clubfeet.