Lateral sesamoid position in hallux valgus: correlation with the conventional radiological assessment.
BACKGROUND
We aimed to quantify the severity of the hallux valgus based on the lateral sesamoid position and to establish a correlation of our simple assessment method with the conventional radiological assessments.


METHODS
We reviewed one hundred and twenty two dorso-plantar weight bearing radiographs of feet. The intermetatarsal and hallux valgus angles were measured by the conventional methods; and the position of lateral sesamoid in relation to first metatarsal neck was assessed by our new and simple method.


RESULTS
Significant correlation was noted between intermetatarsal angle and lateral sesamoid position (Rho 0.74, p < 0.0001); lateral sesamoid position and hallux valgus angle (Rho 0.56, p < 0.0001). Similar trends were noted in different grades of severity of hallux valgus in all the three methods of assessment.


CONCLUSIONS
Our method of assessing hallux valgus deformity based on the lateral sesamoid position is simple, less time consuming and has statistically significant correlation with that of the established conventional radiological measurements.
Department of Trauma and Orthopaedics, Rochdale Infirmary, Rochdale, Lancashire, UK. yuvraj_90@yahoo.com
Yuvraj
Y
Agrawal
Aravind
A
Desai
Jaysheel
J
Mehta
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006215:Hallux Valgus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012716:Sesamoid Bones / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult