Approach to the Hip for SCFE: The North American Perspective

The treatment of slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE) in North America has seen a change over the past 15 to 20 years due to a better understanding of the blood flow supplying the femoral head, the ability to monitor the pressure/flow in real time and greater access to the deformity with the development of surgical approaches providing that access. These advances have mainly affected the treatment of the unstable SCFE to mitigate the risk of avascular necrosis but have also been utilized for the stable SCFE when severe deformity remains. This paper will provide a summary of some of the current techniques utilized in North America in the treatment of SCFE and will focus on the studies reported on this condition from this continent. In addition, I wanted this report to reflect the opinions and practices of North American surgeons and so I polled an audience that was representative of the current North American pediatric orthopaedist.