ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Pediatric Orthopedics
Comparison of the Clinical Efficacy of Conventional Metal Screws and Absorbable Implants in the Kidner Procedure for Treating Adolescent Accessory Navicular Bone
Liangfu Xie
Xinfeng Wang
Bing E
Wei Wang
Fu Guibing
Jiansheng Wang
Shenzhen Children's Hospital, Shenzhen, China
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Abstract
Objective: To analyze and compare the clinical efficacy of conventional metal screws and absorbable implants in the treatment of adolescent accessory navicular bone in the Kidner procedure. Methods: One hundred and twenty patients who underwent the Kidner procedure between January 2022 and January 2024 were selected for the treatment of adolescent accessory navicular bone. Sixty patients fixed with conventional metal screws were set as the control group (metal screws), and 60 patients fixed with absorbable implants (including absorbable screws or cone head nails) were set as the study group (absorbable implants). The operation time, intraoperative bleeding and postoperative complication rate were compared between the two groups, and the recovery of foot function before and after treatment was assessed by the American Society of Foot and Ankle Surgery (AOFAS) Ankle-Hindfoot Scale; the pain level of the patients before and after treatment was assessed by visual analog scale (VAS). Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of age, gender, BMI, disease duration, type of accessory navicular bone and condition of the affected foot (P > 0.05). There was also no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of operative time, intraoperative bleeding and complication rate (P > 0.05). The results of the 12-month postoperative follow-up showed that the AOFAS scores of the two groups were significantly higher at all stages compared with the preoperative period (P < 0.05); among them, the scores of the study group were significantly higher than those of the control group in the pain and function dimensions (P < 0.05), whereas there was no statistically significant difference between the scores of the contralateral dimensions (P > 0.05).After 12 months of follow-up, VAS scores were significantly lower in both groups, and VAS scores were significantly lower in the study group than in the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Absorbable implants have certain advantages in promoting the recovery of foot function, relieving postoperative pain, and improving foot alignment in patients with adolescent accessory navicular bone, making them a worthwhile internal fixation option to consider.
Summary
Keywords
Absorbable implant, adolescent accessory navicular bone, clinical efficacy, Kidner technique, metal screw
Received
26 November 2025
Accepted
18 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Xie, Wang, E, Wang, Guibing and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Jiansheng Wang
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