Does Langenskiold staging have a good prognostic value in late onset tibia vara?

BACKGROUND: Although many literature studied the effect of many factors on the prognosis of the early-onset Blount disease, studies that were written on the prognostic factors affecting late onset tibia vara are still limited.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the prognostic value of the Langenskiold classification system for late onset tibia vara.

METHODS: Twenty children from the Sporting Health Insurance Student Reference Hospital-Alexandria, with a diagnosis of late onset tibia vara were evaluated for the effect of the Langenskiold staging system on the prognosis after they all had been treated by gradual correction by Ilizarov technique using the so called "juxta-articular hinge assembly" after a mean follow-up period of 4.9 years (range : 4-6, SD 0.75).

RESULTS: The difference in varus recurrence rates between the "low grade group" and "high grade group" was found to be statistically significant (p = 0.008) as will be discussed later. There was no statistically significant relation between the age of the patients at the time of operation, sex, length of the follow up period and the degree of pre-operative varus deformity angle (DA) and the recurrence (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION: We concluded that Langenskiold staging system is a reliable, reproducible and a good prognostic factor for late onset tibia vara.