The Long Term Results of Femoral Varus Osteotomy in Patients with Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease

Femoral varus osteotomy (FVO) has been widely used in the surgical treatment of Legg-Calve-Perthes disease (LCPD). Axer in 1965 reviewed FVO as a treatment of LCPD and reported a very favorable results comparing with those observed after conservative treatment. Since then, many authors have demonstrated that it can prevent femoral head deformity and restore spherical congruity, provided that the femoral head can be contained in the acetabulum. The advantages of FVO are that the operation is done on the affected bone, it provides better lateral coverage than does innominate osteotomy, and it decreases the force across the joint. However, the disadvantages of FVO are also reported that it may shorten the limb and may create excessive varus angulation, leading to weakness of the abductors of the hip. However, only few papers have been reported the long term results of FVO which followed up to the full skeletal maturity. We selected 35 patients who had clinical and radiological examinations at the full skeletal maturity and analyzed the results with special emphasis on the sphericity of femoral head and the leg length discrepancy (LLD). Submitted: July 14, 2009 1st revision: August 17, 2009 2nd revision: August 26, 2009 Final acceptance: August 26, 2009 �Address reprint request to Sung Man Rowe, MD Department of Orthopedic Surgery, St.Carollo Hospital, 1742, Jorye-dong, Suncheon-si, 540-718, Jeollanam-do TEL: +82-61-720-6401 FAX: +82-61-720-6363 E-mail: [email protected] The Long Term Results of Femoral Varus Osteotomy in Patients with Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease