Surgical treatment in osteochondritis of the femur head in children

: The goal of surgery in the femoral head osteochondritis of children is, in the cases progressing towards extrusion, to ensure a good coverage of femoral head. Under the age of 5-6 years, the evolution being more commonly benign, the surgical containment is rarely indicated. In the child over 7 years, the extrusion of femoral head being common, a surgical intervention for correcting it is necessary. This paper is based on a statistics on 36 children operated upon at the Clinic of Pediatric Surgery and Orthopedics of Iasi between 1980 and 1990. Eighteen femoral osteotomies, 10 Chiari pelvic osteotomies and 8 triple pelvic osteotomies were performed. It is assumed that femoral osteotomy is rarely indicated and Chiari osteotomy is required for hip salvage when other techniques cannot be used. The triple pelvic osteotomy, when indicated, has to be used more frequently, leaving aside the reticences towards this method.