Re: Tendon Transfer at Age 3

[Guest guest]

Hi!

My son, Jake, was born with a left clubfoot. He relapsed around the age of 2

yrs and has had tendon transfer surgery done twice, at age 3 and age 4 1/2.

I've posted about this many times on both the nosurgery4clubfoot and clubfoot

boards so if you look back thru my posts you should be able to find a lot of

information. Let me know if you have trouble looking up old posts and I can

forward you some information, or just email me with any specific questions you

might have.

Kassia

3/22/01 (Lt clubfoot, ATTT surgery #2 October 2005)

and 11/22/02

[Guest guest]

Dawn,

This is very interesting. So a couple questions come to my mind, did

the pictures you sent Dr. Ponseti show supinating his foot

in a weight bearing position or just in a relaxed sitting position?

I'm curious about this because I think it's been discussed before on

this board about how our babies who are otherwise well corrected will

sometimes when sitting at rest pull their foot up in a supinated

position but I was told that this was normal and was nothing to be

worried about. My next question is about the tendon (the ATT), if the

problem is that the tendon is pulling the foot back towards the

clubbed position then wouldn't recasting back to 70 degrees of

abduction stretch the tendon again, making it *possible* to avoid the

ATTT? They might find that the foot continues to relapse due to that

tendon but I guess it would make sense to me that recasting would be

attempted, even multiple times, to stretch the tendon rather than do

the surgery. I'm just thinking outloud here, not disputing what you

were saying, I guess they can tell how tight the tendon is and whether

or not it would respond to recasting, hmmm...just another thing for us

to ponder.

> Good question….

>

>

>

> _____

>

> From: nosurgery4clubfoot

> [mailto:nosurgery4clubfoot ] On Behalf Of number23

> Sent: Monday, January 16, 2006 1:06 PM

> To: nosurgery4clubfoot

> Subject: Re: Re: Tendon Transfer at Age 3

>

>

>

> But how do they determine it is " necessary " at this young age when

so many

> other babies are responding so well to re-casting at this age?

> s.

>

> Re: Tendon Transfer at Age 3

>

>

>

> Welcome nna & Macie!

> I am utterly shocked that the doctors in Des Moines wanted to do

> surgery on your child. You would think that with the proximity of

> Des Moines to Iowa City, that all the doctors there would be

> following the Ponseti method! What a disappointment! I'm glad you

> researched your options and were able to get your daughter to Iowa

> City!

> I'm sorry that you're dealing with a relapse. There are quite a few

> families here with ATTT experience and hopefully they'll be a great

> support and source of information for you.

> Have you seen the Global HELP booklet? It has graphic photographs

> of the procedure (it's a medical booklet intended for

> professionals), so I'm not sure if this interests you or not.

> As far as navigating the site, to search through the archives, you

> have to type in a key word, then the Yahoo site will search through

> a batch of the most recent messages for your word...if you hit next,

> it will search through the group of next oldest messages.

> Unfortunately, there's no way to search all the posts at once, so

> you have to keep hitting " next " to sift through them. Not user-

> friendly at all.

> We look forward to having you and Macie on our group!

> Best wishes,

> & (3-16-00, left clubfoot)

> http://ponseticlubfoot.freeservers.com/

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Dr. Ponseti told us when he saw Lucas that he will definitely need

this done on the right foot, and most likely the left as well

between 2-3 years. He's only 1 now....I'm not sure how he can tell

right away that he'll need it down the road, but ours is a difficult

case also.

Jenn

> > Good question….

> >

> >

> >

> > _____

> >

> > From: nosurgery4clubfoot

> > [mailto:nosurgery4clubfoot ] On Behalf Of number23

> > Sent: Monday, January 16, 2006 1:06 PM

> > To: nosurgery4clubfoot

> > Subject: Re: Re: Tendon Transfer at Age 3

> >

> >

> >

> > But how do they determine it is " necessary " at this young age

when

> so many

> > other babies are responding so well to re-casting at this age?

> > s.

> >

> > Re: Tendon Transfer at Age 3

> >

> >

> >

> > Welcome nna & Macie!

> > I am utterly shocked that the doctors in Des Moines wanted to

do

> > surgery on your child. You would think that with the

proximity of

> > Des Moines to Iowa City, that all the doctors there would be

> > following the Ponseti method! What a disappointment! I'm

glad you

> > researched your options and were able to get your daughter to

Iowa

> > City!

> > I'm sorry that you're dealing with a relapse. There are quite

a few

> > families here with ATTT experience and hopefully they'll be a

great

> > support and source of information for you.

> > Have you seen the Global HELP booklet? It has graphic

photographs

> > of the procedure (it's a medical booklet intended for

> > professionals), so I'm not sure if this interests you or

not.

> > As far as navigating the site, to search through the archives,

you

> > have to type in a key word, then the Yahoo site will search

through

> > a batch of the most recent messages for your word...if you hit

next,

> > it will search through the group of next oldest messages.

> > Unfortunately, there's no way to search all the posts at once,

so

> > you have to keep hitting " next " to sift through them. Not

user-

> > friendly at all.

> > We look forward to having you and Macie on our group!

> > Best wishes,

> > & (3-16-00, left clubfoot)

> > http://ponseticlubfoot.freeservers.com/

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

Hi Kassia,

My daughter at age 3.5 years old had a very successful tendon

transfer done in both feet in November by Morcuende. We are very

happy with the end result. I noticed in your posting that your son

had to have a second ATTT. Can you give me some more info on his

situation? What is the chance of a child having to have a second one

of those done and also did you have the same surgeon both times?

Thanks for your time!

Joyce

>

> The impression I got from Dr Dietz was that the size of the child's

bones in his/her feet are more important than the child's age. The

3rd cuneiform bone (where they transfer the tendon to) needs to be

large enough to accommodate having a hole drilled into it. Your

child's doctor should do an xray on your child's feet to make sure

the bones are large enough.

>

> Kassia

> 3/22/01 (Lt clubfoot, ATTT #2 October 2005)

> and 11/22/02

>

>

>

>

>

> Hi ,

>

>

>

> I have a Ponseti Certified doctor and I consulted with Dr. P

himself who

> agreed that 2 ½ is not too young for the tendon transfer if it is

necessary.

> Unfortunately, I was hoping for him to disagree with Dr. Herzenberg

but I

> guess in some cases it has to be done. I just thought it seemed

really

> young….

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Kassia,

My daughter at age 3.5 years old had a very successful tendon

transfer done in both feet in November by Morcuende. We are very

happy with the end result. I noticed in your posting that your son

had to have a second ATTT. Can you give me some more info on his

situation? What is the chance of a child having to have a second one

of those done and also did you have the same surgeon both times?

Thanks for your time!

Joyce

>

> The impression I got from Dr Dietz was that the size of the child's

bones in his/her feet are more important than the child's age. The

3rd cuneiform bone (where they transfer the tendon to) needs to be

large enough to accommodate having a hole drilled into it. Your

child's doctor should do an xray on your child's feet to make sure

the bones are large enough.

>

> Kassia

> 3/22/01 (Lt clubfoot, ATTT #2 October 2005)

> and 11/22/02

>

>

>

>

>

> Hi ,

>

>

>

> I have a Ponseti Certified doctor and I consulted with Dr. P

himself who

> agreed that 2 ½ is not too young for the tendon transfer if it is

necessary.

> Unfortunately, I was hoping for him to disagree with Dr. Herzenberg

but I

> guess in some cases it has to be done. I just thought it seemed

really

> young….

>

>

>

>

>