488 THE JOURNAL OF BONE AND JOINT SURGERY A REVIEW OF LONG-TERM RESULTS OF ARTHRODESIS OF THE FIRST METATARSO-PHALANGEAL JOINT ‘

Since 1894, when Clutton first described arthrodesis of the metatarso-phalangeal joint for hallux valgus, there have been many papers describing various techniques and the results. However, there is no account of a large series of patients reviewed after a long post-operative interval. This paper reports the findings in 100 cases of the operation ten years or more later. The principal aims were to determine the long-term prognosis and the factors that influence it. MATERIAL The cases were not selected. Patients who had undergone arthrodesis for hallux valgus or hallux rigidus at least ten years previously were requested to attend. The first sixty-nine patients to do so, representing 100 operations, were reviewed. The average post-operative period was twelve years, the extremes being ten and seventeen years (Fig. 1). The age of the patient at the time of operation varied from thirteen to sixty-six years, with an average of forty-six years (Fig. 2). Eighty-five of the operation