Ultrasonographic Measurement of Talar Cartilage Thickness in Patient With Cerebral Palsy.

OBJECTIVE Foot deformities are one of the most common musculoskeletal problems in children with cerebral palsy (CP). These deformities affect the walking ability and function of the patients. Talar cartilage is the hyaline joint cartilage of the tibiotalar joint which plantarflexes and dorsiflexes of the ankle. The aim of this study was to determine whether talar cartilage thickness was affected in children with ambulant diplegic cerebral palsy. DESIGN 40 patients with diplegic CP (19 males, 21 females) and 40 age, gender, and weight-matched healthy control subjects (20 males, 20 females) were included in the study. The demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients including age, sex and body mass index (BMI) were recorded. Patients were classified using the GMFCS. A 12 MHz linear probe was used for ultrasonographic cartilage measurements at the tibiotalar joint according to EURO-MUSCULUS/ USPRM scanning protocols. RESULTS Mean talar cartilage thickness was significantly decreased in the cerebral palsy group compared to the healthy control group (p<0.001). There was a significant negative correlation between GMFCS levels and talar cartilage thickness measurements (p<0.001, tau-b=-0.695). CONCLUSION This study demonstrates that patients with CP have a thinner talar cartilage compared to healthy control subjects.