Significance of clinical and radiographic findings in young adults after slipped capital femoral epiphysis

The purpose of this study was to assess the clinical and radiographic presentation of young adults in the mid-term follow-up after pinning in situ for mild to moderate slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE). We postulated that there was a correlation between the degree of head-neck-offset decrease and clinical and radiographic signs of hip joint degeneration. Thirty-eight young adults (average age 23.4 ± 3.6 years old) with various grades of femoral head-neck-offset pathologies were assessed clinically via Harris hip score (HHS), Tegner-Lysholm score (TLS) and Short Form 36 (SF-36), and radiographic signs of OA were measured on plain X-ray films after a follow-up of 11.1 ± 3.8 years. We conclude that clinical and radiographic signs of joint degeneration appear early in the follow-up after SCFE, but there is no linear correlation between offset-pathology and joint degeneration.