Clinical outcomes of flexor hallucis longus transfer for the treatment of Achilles tendinosis rupture.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical outcomes of flexor hallucis longus transfer for the treatment of Achilles tendinosis rupture and the postoperative morbidity of the hallux.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: A retrospective study was performed in the patients with Achilles tendinosis rupture who underwent the flexor hallucis longus transfer from January 2001 to December 2007. The preoperative and postoperative AOFAS scale for ankle-hindfoot of the affected ankle and the hallux metatarsophalangeal-interphalangeal scale of both halluces were compared and analyzed.

RESULTS: 12 patients were included in the study, with the average age of 50 and the average duration of the symptoms of 4.7 weeks. After the average follow-up period of 22.5 months, all patients were satisfied with their clinical outcomes and the AOFAS score for ankle-hindfoot significantly improved from 54.6 points to 92.9 points whereas the hallux metatarsophalangeal-interphalangeal scale of the hallux was slightly decrease.

CONCLUSION: Good functional outcomes of the ankle and less morbidity of the hallux could be achieved through the use of flexor hallucis longus transfer for the treatment of Achilles tendinosis rupture. Further studies aimed at the confirming the results should be performed due to the small number of patient and the mix of acute and chronic ruptures.