The role of bone scintigraphy in predicting femoral head collapse following cervical fractures in children.

Bone scintigraphy was performed before or after osteosynthesis or both in 11 children aged 9 to 14 years with femoral neck fractures. The role of bone scintigraphy in predicting development of femoral head necrosis with subsequent collapse was studied. Scintigraphy was not a useful study for this purpose. The explanation of this may be that reposition and osteosynthesis jeopardize the blood supply to the femoral head and invalidates the findings at the pre-operative scan. The childhood femoral head also has a strong potential for revascularization and complete reconstruction of the necrotic bone.