The effect of an incomplete interochanteric osteotomy on Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease.

In an attempt to accelerate the healing process, an incomplete intertrochanteric osteotomy was performed over a ten-year period in fifty-three patients (fifty-four hips) with Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease. Radiographs of the hips that had been operated on were reviewed to establish the length of time that was required to attain completion of bone-healing of the femoral head and completion of the resorption stage of the disease. These healing times were then compared with those of a control group of thirty-six patients (forty-three hips) who had had non-operative treatment for Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease in our institution, as well as with the data from other studies on this subject in the orthopaedic literature. In our experience, an incomplete intertrochanteric osteotomy did not in any way alter the rate of healing of Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease.