A 30-year experience with bone graft epiphysiodesis in the treatment of slipped capital femoral epiphysis.

A retrospective review was carried out of all cases treated by bone graft epiphysiodesis for slipped capital femoral epiphysis at Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron between the years 1950 and 1980. Only those cases followed for a minimum of 1 year following treatment were included in the review and evaluated as to their status of avascular necrosis, acute cartilage necrosis, or other complications attendant to the surgical approach. One hundred seventy-six patients representing 207 hips underwent bone graft epiphysiodesis over this 30-year period. One hundred fifty-nine patients representing 185 hips were followed a minimum of 1 year and were included in this study. There were 25 cases of acute slipping representing 26 hips and 134 patients representing 159 hips involved with the chronic slipping process. In the acute group of patients representing 26 hips, there were two cases of avascular necrosis and one case of acute cartilage necrosis. In the chronic group of 159 hips, there were four cases of reslipping, one due to graft resorption, one due to placement of the graft short the growth plate, and two that went on to acute slipping. All cases were salvaged with good results. There was one case of avascular necrosis in the chronic group; not a single case of acute cartilage necrosis was encountered. Owing to the rapid nature of growth plate closure following bone graft epiphysiodesis, the avoidance of hardware removal or pin penetration, and the extremely low incidence of overall complications, we suggest that bone graft epiphysiodesis is at least as good as multiple pin fixation in the treatment of slipped capital femoral epiphysis.