Does Langenskiold staging have a good prognostic value in late onset tibia vara?
BACKGROUND
Although many literature studied the effect of many factors on the prognosis of the early-onset Blount disease, studies that were written on the prognostic factors affecting late onset tibia vara are still limited.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to evaluate the prognostic value of the Langenskiold classification system for late onset tibia vara.


METHODS
Twenty children from the Sporting Health Insurance Student Reference Hospital-Alexandria, with a diagnosis of late onset tibia vara were evaluated for the effect of the Langenskiold staging system on the prognosis after they all had been treated by gradual correction by Ilizarov technique using the so called "juxta-articular hinge assembly" after a mean follow-up period of 4.9 years (range : 4-6, SD 0.75).


RESULTS
The difference in varus recurrence rates between the "low grade group" and "high grade group" was found to be statistically significant (p = 0.008) as will be discussed later. There was no statistically significant relation between the age of the patients at the time of operation, sex, length of the follow up period and the degree of pre-operative varus deformity angle (DA) and the recurrence (p > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
We concluded that Langenskiold staging system is a reliable, reproducible and a good prognostic factor for late onset tibia vara.
Damanhour National Medical Institute, Ali El-Garim St,Bohera state, Rasheed, Egypt. Dr_ashrafkhanfour@hotmail.com
Ashraf Ahmad
AA
Khanfour
D000293:Adolescent; D017668:Age of Onset; D001848:Bone Diseases, Developmental / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055034:Osteochondrosis / Q000151:congenital* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D011379:Prognosis; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome