A Chevron osteotomy is a commonly done surgical procedure to take care of bunions on the feet. The bunion is the enlargement and a misalignment of the great toe or hallux that can cause the big toe to angle towards the lesser toes. It very often results in a bump on the base of the great toe or hallux that may grow to be uncomfortable. There are numerous surgical treatments which they can use to take care of a bunion. Each of the procedures has a variety of indications as to who it will be the most appropriate to use on. By using a Chevron osteotomy, the feet and ankle orthopaedic or podiatric surgeon cuts a “V” at the end of the long bone leading to the big toe (the metatarsal) after which swivels the end of the bone to straighten the big toe.
Typically the reasons for a Chevron osteotomy usually are for younger individuals who have no osteoarthritis within the big toe joint and the angle of the deformity is regarded as slight to medium. It is usually the surgery of choice for younger sports athletes, although elderly people with moderate bunion will do well with this surgery. The crucial prerequisite is a big toe joint that is congruent and without any osteoarthritis in the joint. This Chevron osteotomy will be contraindicated if there is a significant amount of deformity or if the adductor muscles and also ligaments are tight or there's an incongruity in the hallux joint and osteoarthritis in the joint.
The end results of bunion surgery after the Chevron osteotomy usually are great. In a research study by Hans-Jorg Trnka et al (published in the JBJS in 2000) where they studied 57 people that underwent the Chevron osteotomy with 5 year follow up. These researchers recorded that the flexibility of the great toe joint reduced between the initial review and the two year follow-up however wasn't any worse at 5 years. They also noted no changes in the angle of the hallux valgus deformity relating to the two year and 5 year evaluations. Individuals older than fifty years did as well as younger patients that does put a question mark on the Chevron osteotomy largely being used for younger individuals. The Chevron osteotomy operation may damage the blood vessels close to the bottom of the big toe joint, but these investigators found zero cases of osteonecrosis with the metatarsal head at both the two year or five year follow-ups periods. However, they did find that there was osteoarthritis of the great toe or hallux joint in eight feet at the 2 year review and in 11 feet at five yr review.
As with any operation for any bunion, the Chevron osteotomy is a great choice for the proper reasons and when carried out by a surgeon who is informed about these indicators as well as contraindications and also has the specialized skills to accomplish the procedure meticulously. As with all surgical treatments you can find sometimes undesirable final results, although with this procedure many of them can certainly be not hard to fix. If you need bunion surgery, you really need to take it up with the surgeon which treament is better suggested to suit your needs and what the outcomes are most likely to be.