Operative Treatment Of Metatarsalgia: Triple Weil Osteotomy Or Distal Metatarsal Minimal Invasive Osteotomy (DMMO)?

INTRODUCTION Metatarsalgia is a vague term defining a symptom instead of a specific condition. The aim of surgical treatment of metatarsalgia is to decrease the pressure under metatarsal head, shortening and / or raising the metatarsal. It has been somewhat controversial, with more than 25 different lesser metatarsal osteotomies described to date. The Triple´s Weil osteotomy described by Maceira is the most widely used surgical treatment in open distal metatarsal surgery but nowadays, percutaneous osteotomy has proven to be a valid technique that yields results similar to open osteotomy for the treatment of metatarsalgia and other forefoot problems. It has been somewhat controversial the choice between the different operative treatments, being nowadays the triple´s Weil osteotomy (TWO) and the distal minimally invasive osteotomy (DMMO) the most popular, gaining both defenders and retractors surgeons in open and percutaneous surgery. The purpose of this study is to compare the clinical results between two different surgical treatments: triple´s Weil osteotomy (TWO) and distal minimal invasive osteotomy (DMMO). MATERIAL AND METHODS The investigators design an open randomized controlled clinical trial with patients operated in the same centre. The patients are randomized to TWO and DMMO groups. Number of osteotomies is based on the criteria of Leventen formula. In all patients the metatarsal osteotomy can be combined with different surgical procedures in presence of associated deformities: (i) SCARF osteotomy for hallux valgus (HV) deformity, (ii) flexor and extensor tenotomies with distal phalangeal percutaneous osteotomy for lesser toes deformities.