Comparison of the effects of forefoot jointpreserving arthroplasty and resectionreplacement arthroplasty on walking plantar pressure distribution and patient-based outcomes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

• Main Authors: Kosuke Ebina MD, Hideki Tsuboi MD, Makoto Hirao MD, PhD, Takaaki Noguchi MD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2018-09-01
• Series: Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/2473011418S00216

Category: Midfoot/Forefoot Introduction/Purpose: The purpose of this retrospective study is to clarify the difference in plantar pressure distribution during walking and related patient-based outcomes between forefoot joint-preserving arthroplasty and resection-replacement arthroplasty in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: Four groups of patients were recruited. Group1 included 22 feet of 11 healthy controls (age 48.6 years), Group2 included 36 feet of 28 RA patients with deformed non-operated feet (age 64.8 years, Disease activity score assessing 28 joints with CRP [DAS28-CRP] 2.3), Group3 included 27 feet of 20 RA patients with metatarsal head resection-replacement arthroplasty (age 60.7 years, post-operative duration 5.6 years, DAS28-CRP 2.4), and Group4 included 34 feet of 29 RA patients with metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint-preserving arthroplasty (age 64.6 years, post-operative duration 3.2 years, DAS28-CRP 2.3). Patients were cross-sectionally examined by F-SCAN II® to evaluate walking plantar pressure, and the self-administered foot evaluation questionnaire (SAFE-Q). Twenty joint-preserving arthroplasty feet were longitudinally examined at both pre- and post-operation. Results: In the 1st MTP joint, Group4 showed higher pressure distribution (13.7%) than Group2 (8.0%) and Group3 (6.7%) (P<0.001). In the 2nd-3 rd MTP joint, Group4 showed lower pressure distribution (9.0%) than Group2 (14.5%) (P<0.001) and Group3 (11.5%) (P<0.05). On longitudinal analysis, Group4 showed increased 1st MTP joint pressure (8.5% vs. 14.7%; P<0.001) and decreased 2nd-3 rd MTP joint pressure (15.2% vs. 10.7%; P<0.01) distribution. In the SAFE-Q subscale scores, Group4 showed higher scores than Group3 in pain and pain-related scores (84.1 vs. 71.7; P<0.01) and in shoe-related scores (62.5 vs. 43.1; P<0.01). Conclusion: Joint-preserving arthroplasty resulted in higher 1st MTP joint and lower 2nd-3 rd MTP joint pressures than resection-replacement arthroplasty, which were associated with better patient-based outcomes.