title: Narrowing of the joint space of the hip after traumatic shortening of the femur.
abstract: Femoral lengthening has been associated with narrowing of the joint space at the hip. We have studied the joint space before lengthening in 20 patients with a short femur due to a femoral-shaft fracture (15) or distal femoral epiphyseal injury (5). Their mean age at injury was 16 years (3 to 27) and the mean shortening was 5.4 cm (1.1 to 14). We found that the hip joint space of the shortened femur was significantly narrower (p < 0.001) than that on the normal side, with a mean narrowing ratio of 15.5% (-5 to +43). The narrowing ratio was directly related to the period spent non-weight-bearing (p < 0.001), but not to the amount of femoral shortening. We have shown that the joint space of the hip in patients with post-traumatic femoral shortening was narrowed even before femoral lengthening had been started.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kurokawa
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsushita
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shiro
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okazaki
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D001852:Bone Lengthening; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004434:Early Ambulation; D005260:Female; D005264:Femoral Fractures / Q000150:complications*; D006621:Hip Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007870:Leg Length Inequality / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D016474:Weight-Bearing