Epidemiological perspective on prophylactic pinning in patients with unilateral slipped capital femoral epiphysis.
The purpose of this review was to determine whether the literature supports in situ prophylactic pinning of the hip contralateral to a hip with a slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE). Three hundred twenty-five articles on SCFE between 1931 and 1998 were reviewed. Two hundred six studies were used to establish normative data. Patients with a unilateral SCFE were 2,335 times more likely to develop a SCFE in the contralateral hip when compared to children in the general population experiencing an initial SCFE. Because a majority of these sequential SCFEs were detected and treated early, we concluded that close follow-up and not prophylactic pinning was most supported by the literature.
Castro
F P
FP
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana 70112, USA.
Bennett
J T
JT
Doulens
K
K
D001858:Bone Nails; D002648:Child; D004839:Epiphyses, Slipped / Q000150:complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005270:Femur Head; D006615:Hip / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007870:Leg Length Inequality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000517:prevention & control