Ponseti Method or Kite Method: Which is More Effective for Clubfoot Treatment? A Descryptive Study, Conducted in Orthopaedic Service in Tirana

Introduction Pes Equinovarus is a congenital pathology. It is seen for the first time in Egyptians' paintings and first described in medical literature by Hippocrates 400 years BC. In our country, times ago, the treatment of clubfoot is based on Kite's descriptions (1939), which consist only in serial manipulation with cast making gradual corrections. While recently from 2010 till now we are using Ponseti method ( developed since 1950) which consist in manipulation with cast and a mini-operative surgery called Achilles tenotomy. Materials and Methods This is a prospective randomized trial which is conducted in a tertiary hospital center in Albania. We have study clinical charts from January 2011 till December 2011. The study included 49 patients (76 feet) who had been diagnostic with congenital idiopathic clubfeet. ). Out of 49 patients (76 feet) were 29 male and 20 female. The statistical package which is used is SPSS 20. Accepted error is less than 5 % ( p less than 0.05). Results From 29 males ( 45 clubfeet 8 right, 5 left, 16 bilateral) and from 20 females ( 31 clubfeet 4 right, 5 left, 11 bilateral). Twenty-seven of our patients had bilateral clubfeet ( or 54 feet) while twenty-two had unilateral pathology. The p-value is less than 0.05 which mean that there is a significant difference between the Kite and Ponseti method in favor of Ponseti method. Number. of failures in Kite group was 8 (21.1%) and only 3 (7.9%) in Ponseti group.