[Value of the direct X-ray magnification technique for the assessment of the therapeutic success in osteochondrosis dissecans in the knee-joint (author's transl)].

The article demonstrates the diagnostic value of the direct x-ray enlargement technique, taking a group of 11 patients with osteochondrosis dissecans of a femoral condylus as an example. The method is unsuitable as a diagnostic screening method, since the informative content of the enlarged roentgenograph, is greater in a defined area only, and since the additional exposure burden should not be overlooked, especially in the patients in question, who are mostly relatively young. However, the direct radiological enlargement technique is well suited for postoperative follow-up, since it is only with the help of visualization of the increasing trabecular bone bridges between femoral condylus and dissecate, that the process of incorporation can be visualized and hence also judged in respect of its success.