Evaluation of surgical outcome in patients with plantar fasciitis

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the postoperative outcome of patients withplantar fasciitis. Method: Retrospective cross-sectional study basedon the application of the AOFAS (American Orthopaedic Foot andAnkle Society Ankle-Hindfoot Scale) questionnaire adapted forpatients undergoing surgery in our department of Orthopedicsand Traumatology, who did not respond to a clinical treatmentprotocol for 5 months, from January 2008 to September 2016. Fifteenpatients with a diagnosis of plantar fasciitis were assessed andtreated with the same clinical and surgical protocol, when needed.Twenty-four patients were operated on during this period, and thequestionnaire was administered to fifteen of them. We evaluatedthe body mass index (BMI), clinical and orthopedic comorbidities,surgical complications, magnetic resonance imaging findings (MRI),and postoperative outcome, comparing the AOFAS score before and3 months after surgery. Results: The average age of the operatedpatients was 52.2 years and the average body mass index was 27.16;the clinical treatment adopted was highly effective; the percentageof patients operated on was 4.33%; all surgical patients underwentpreoperative MRI and none of them was diagnosed with plantarfascia rupture; all surgical patients achieved an improvement in theAOFAS score, with an average increase of 85.7%. Conclusion: Thesurgical protocol used proved safe and effective with improvementof the clinical and functional score and low rates of complications.