Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 1939;21:323-333.
© 1939 by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
A NEW OPERATIVE TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOUS COXITIS IN CHILDREN
ALADÁR FARKAS M.D.1
1 The Orthopaedic Department of the Brody Children's Hospital, Budapest
1. No condition of perfect rest is possible with conservative treatment of coxitis. The adductors and the iliopsoas exert a particularly harmful effect on the joint.
2. This harmful influence of the muscles is destroyed by a subtrochanteric osteotomy, followed by complete displacement of the fragments.
3. Silk suture between the fragments promotes recalcification.
4. Osteotomy performed in the manner described drains the marrow cavity, which relieves pain and promotes healing.
5. In the seventeen cases in which this operation was performed, there were sixteen children and one adult. There have been no recurrences during the five years in which these cases have been under observation.
6. Following operation, the average period required for complete healing was eighteen months.
7. This method can be performed without danger, except in cases with open fistulae, at any stage of the disease, at any localization of the focus, and at any age. In the author's series operation was delayed until at least three months after the fistulae (when present) had closed.