Weightbearing Forefoot Axial Radiography - Technical Description and Reproducibility Evaluation

• Published in: Revista brasileira de ortopedia Vol. 55; no. 3; pp. 367 - 373
• Main Authors: Sposeto, Rafael Barban, Sakaki, Marcos Hideyo, Godoy-Santos, Alexandre Leme, Ortiz, Rafael Trevisan, Macedo, Rodrigo Sousa, Fernandes, Tulio Diniz
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Sociedade Brasileira de Ortopedia e Traumatologia. Published by Thieme Revinter Publicações Ltda 01-06-2020; Sociedade Brasileira de Ortopedia e Traumatologia; Thieme Revinter Publicações Ltda
• Subjects: Artigo Original; foot diseases; forefoot, human; metatarsal bones; metatarsalgia; metatarsophalangeal joint; ORTHOPEDICS; radiography; forefoot, human; foot diseases; antepé humano; articulação metatarsofalângica; metatarsalgia; radiography; metatarsal bones; metatarsophalangeal joint; radiografia; ossos do metatarso; doenças do pé
• ISSN: 0102-3616; 1982-4378; 1982-4378
• DOI: 10.1055/s-0039-3402453

Objective
 The present study aims to describe a new weightbearing radiographic method to visualize the heads of the five metatarsals on the coronal plane, evaluating their accuracy through intraclass correlation coefficients.
Methods
 The subjects were evaluated, with weightbearing, with the ankle at 20 degrees of plantar flexion and the metatarsophalangeal joints at 10 degrees of extension, positioned on a wooden device. Two independent foot and ankle surgeons evaluated the radiography, with one of them doing it twice, at different moments, achieving an inter and intraobserver correlation, with intraclass correlation coefficients.
Results
 We radiographed 63 feet, achieving an interobserver correlation coefficient of the radiographic method for the metatarsal heads heights in the coronal plane of the 1
st
, 2
nd
, 3
rd
, 4
th
, and 5
th
metatarsals of, respectively, 0.90, 0.85, 0.86, 0.83, 0.89. The intraobserver correlation coefficient were, respectively, 0.95, 0.93, 0.93, 0.86, 0.92.
Conclusion
 Those correlations demonstrate that the method is accurate and can be used to investigate metatarsal head misalignments in this plane.