Results of Early Proximal Femoral Osteotomy at Skeletal Maturity in Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease: Implication for the Bypass of Fragmentation Stage

Background: The aim was to assess the long-term radiographic outcomes of patients with Legg-Calve-Perthes disease following an early proximal femoral osteotomy (PFO) performed in avascular necrosis stage or early fragmentation stage. Methods: In this retrospective study, we analyzed data of 65 patients aged above 6 years at the time of diagnosis with unilateral Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, following early PFO performed at our institution between 1979 and 2013. We observed the presence of bypassing fragmentation stage, which was classified into complete and incomplete. We compared radiographic outcomes between patients with bypass of fragmentation stage (26 hips) and those without (31 hips). Regarding skeletal maturity, the hips were graded according to the femoral head shapes: spherical, ovoid, or flat. Results: The mean age at diagnosis was 7.9 years (range: 6.0 to 11.9 y). The average follow-up period was 11.8 years (range: 5.9 to 22.9 y). Fragmentation bypass occurred in 40.5% (26/65) of patients, with 8 (12.3%) undetermined cases. Patients who completely or partially bypassed fragmentation experienced significantly less severe lateral pillar collapse (P=0.016). The femoral head was also significantly more spherical in patients with bypass (P=0.024). Conclusions: Our results show that 40.5% of patients who underwent early PFO bypassed the fragmentation stage. The degree of lateral pillar collapse was lower in patients with bypass. In addition, there were significantly more patients with more spherical femoral head in the bypass group.

Automated summary

This study assessed the long-term radiographic outcomes of Legg-Calve-Perthes disease patients undergoing early proximal femoral osteotomy, finding that 40.5% of patients bypassed the fragmentation stage. Patients who bypassed fragmentation experienced less severe lateral pillar collapse and had a more spherical femoral head.