Freiberg's disease is osteonecrosis of the dorsal side of a metatarsal head. The gold-standard surgical treatment is the osteotomy procedure first described by Gauthier.

Gauthier osteotomy for Freiberg's disease will restore the joint space and lead to long-term clinical improvement. A retrospective study was carried out to verify this hypothesis.

This study involved 30 consecutive cases treated by a single surgeon in 28 patients having a mean age of 61.2 years. These patients underwent the Gauthier osteotomy procedure with one or two dorsal staples used for fixation. Patients were reviewed 15 days, 45 days and 3 months after the procedure, and then at the last follow-up to look for any complications and determine patient satisfaction, the AOFAS score, metatarsophalangeal range of motion (ROM), sphericity of the metatarsal head, bone union and metatarsal shortening.

The average follow-up was 6.5 years±2.2. The second metatarsal was affected in 27 cases and the third metatarsal in 3 cases. Discomfort related to the staples was noted in five cases; the staples were removed in three of them. There was one case of severe stiffening (< 20° ROM). At the last follow-up, 17 cases were very satisfied, 11 were satisfied and 2 were moderately satisfied. The average AOFAS score was 83.8 points±11.8 at the last follow-up. A mean loss of 15° plantar flexion and 10° dorsiflexion was noted. Bone union and metatarsal head sphericity were achieved in all cases. The average shortening was 2mm±1.4.

The Gauthier osteotomy procedure results in recovery of the metatarsal head's sphericity in every case of this series, with good clinical results and low morbidity.

IV, retrospective series.