Venous drainage of the femoral neck in various stages of activity in Perthes' disease.

The venous drainage of the femoral neck in 73 children with Perthes' disease was analyzed from intraosseous venography films. 55 contralater symptomless hips were used as controls. In active stages of Perthes' disease, i.e. initial and fragmentation stage, the venous drainage was pathological in 46/55 hips (82%). In the restitution stage the finding was pathological in 7/18 (39%) and in healed Perthes' the venous drainage was normal in all six cases. Two out of the 55 symptomless hips showed pathological venous drainage. The disturbances in the venous drainage of the femoral neck seem to correlate with the stage of activity of Perthes' disease. Along with clinical and radiological signs of restitution the venous drainage seems to return to normal.