PERTHES’ DISEASE
In 1910, Arthur Legg, an Englishman, Jacques Calve, a Frenchman, and Georg Perthes, a German, all independently described a bony disorder of the hip.
Its full name is Legg-Calve-Perthes’ disease but this is commonly shortened to Perthes’ disease.
It affects the epiphysis or growing plate at the end of the bones.
For some reason, as yet not understood, there is interference with the blood supply and this leads to the death of the bone around the growing epiphysis resulting in distortion of the head of the femur or thigh bone where it forms the hip joint.
Boys are affected four times as often as girls but the reason for this statistical discrepancy is obscure. It commonly occurs between the ages of 3 and 10.
The child usually complains of pain in the hip and a limp is noticed. The diagnosis can be confirmed by X-ray.
The younger the patient, the better the outlook and the more chance there is for the blood supply to improve and for almost normal development of the joint to take place.
The most effective way of achieving this is to stop all weight-bearing on the hip by confining the child to bed for two to three years.
This is usually unacceptable and, following a period in plaster, an operation to re-align the hip joint and the weight-bearing area is undertaken.
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Tags: General health