CTEV: Pre-natal diagnosis and its impact of treatment

CTEV (congenital Talipes Equinovarus) is one of the common musculo skeletal deformities in new born. The incidence is about 1/1000 population. Prenatal diagnosis is possible many times in TIFFA scan (Targeted Imaging for Fetal Anomalies). Ultrasound being the observer dependent, its common to miss the club foot during antenatal scan. Antenatal detection of CTEV ranges from 20 % to 80% cases. Antenatal detection helps the parent to prepare psychologically and seek treatment early. This definitely increases the early recovery of the deformity and reduces the stress over the parents. In presented study of 53 patients with CTEV at time of birth, 18 patients had antenatal diagnosis, The mean time from the birth to the first plaster was 6.67 days in patients with antenatal diagnosis when compare to 10.2 days in other group where no antenatal diagnosis was made. Conclusion was that the patient whom antenatal diagnosis is made, seek treatment early and get treated early with relatively less number of casts.