Significance of clinical and radiographic findings in young adults after slipped capital femoral epiphysis

• DOI: 10.1007/s00264-010-1106-5
• Publication Date: 2010-08-07T10:58:54Z
• Authors: Christoph Zilkens; Bernd Bittersohl; Marcus Jäger; Falk Miese; Johannes Schultz; Jörn Kircher; Bettina Westhoff; Rüdiger Krauspe
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Adolescent; Health Status; Medizin; Bone Malalignment; Recovery of Function; Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphyses; Bone Nails; Osteoarthritis, Hip; 3. Good health; Radiography; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Quality of Life; Humans; Female; Hip Joint; Child; Retrospective Studies

The purpose of this study was to assess the clinical and radiographic presentation of young adults in the mid-term follow-up after pinning in situ for mild to moderate slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE). We postulated that there was a correlation between the degree of head-neck-offset decrease and clinical and radiographic signs of hip joint degeneration. Thirty-eight young adults (average age 23.4 ± 3.6 years old) with various grades of femoral head-neck-offset pathologies were assessed clinically via Harris hip score (HHS), Tegner-Lysholm score (TLS) and Short Form 36 (SF-36), and radiographic signs of OA were measured on plain X-ray films after a follow-up of 11.1 ± 3.8 years. We conclude that clinical and radiographic signs of joint degeneration appear early in the follow-up after SCFE, but there is no linear correlation between offset-pathology and joint degeneration.