In-situ pinning for Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis in blacks: experience in a regional orthopaedic centre

Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis (SCFE) is the commonest pathology affecting the adolescent hip with an incidence of approximately 2 per 100,000 population. Blacks are more commonly affected than Caucasians. Of many treatment options available, in-situ-pinning appears to be the most widely employed.

To determine the epidemiological pattern and the outcome of in-situ pinning for slipped capital femoral epiphysis in Nigerian adolescents.

This is a six-year retrospective review of all the cases of slipped capital femoral epiphysis treated by in-situ pinning between 1st January 1998 and 31st December 2003 at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, Nigeria.

Thirty-one patients with 35 affected hips were managed with in-situ pinning during the period of review. Twenty-one females (67.7%) and 10 males (32.3%) with a F:M ratio of 2.1:1 were affected. The mean age for all the patients was 12.45 years (range 6 - 16; SD ± 1.79). The most common presenting complaint was hip pain seen in 48.4% of cases. Satisfactory results were obtained in 13 hips (37%) while the results in the remaining 22 hips were unsatisfactory. The most common complication was limb length discrepancy.

This study shows that SCFE is not an uncommon condition in orthopaedic practice in Nigeria. The high rate of unsatisfactory results is associated with the severity of the slips and the unavailability of image intensifier at the time of surgery.