Complications of Minimally Invasive Calcaneal Osteotomy Versus Open Osteotomy

Background: Calcaneal osteotomy is an established technique for correcting hindfoot deformity. Patients traditionally receive an osteotomy through the open lateral approach to the calcaneus. To reduce the rate of wound complications associated with a direct open lateral approach, a minimally invasive surgical (MIS) technique has been adopted. This uses a low-speed, high-torque burr to perform the same osteotomy under radiographic guidance. We hypothesized that the new MIS calcaneal osteotomy would be a safe alternative to open calcaneal osteotomy while obtaining the same displacement. Methods: The safety of the new MIS technique was investigated with a case controlled study on all patients who underwent displacement calcaneal osteotomy at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre from 2008 to 2014. The primary outcome measure was 30 day postoperative complication rate. Secondary outcome measures included operating time, duration of stay, fusion rates, and calcaneal displacement. Eighty-one patients underwent calcaneal osteotomy as part of their corrective surgery, 50 in the Open approach group and 31 in MIS group. The average age was 47.7 years (range 16-77) for the Open group and 50.1 (range 21-77) in the MIS group. Results: A mean calcaneal displacement of 9.4 mm (SD = 1.16, 8 to 11 mm) and 10.2 mm (SD = 1.06, 8 to 13 mm) was achieved through the MIS and Open approaches, respectively. There were significantly fewer wound complications in the MIS group (6.45%) compared to the Open group (28%, P = .022). The MIS group was associated with significantly lower rate of wound infection (3% versus 20%, P = .044). Three patients in the Open group experienced sural peripheral neuropathy. The average length of stay was 3.8 days following MIS and 4.3 days following open calcaneal osteotomy. Nonunion occurred in only 1 patient in the MIS group and none in the open group. Conclusions: MIS calcaneal osteotomy was found to be a safe technique. It was technically as effective as calcaneal osteotomy performed through an open lateral approach but was associated with significantly fewer wound complications and fewer nerve complications.