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Legg-Calvé-Perthes Disease
Overview
Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease is an idiopathic cause of femoral head avascular necrosis in children ~ 4 - 8 years old (range 3 - 12 y.o.). It is typically unilateral (85%) and most common in male children (~ 80%).
Low birth weight is a risk factor and children present with an insidious painless limp, so it requires a high index of suspicion.
Early X-Ray imaging may be normal, but imaging later in the course of the disease can show flattening and fragmentation with bone healing.
Note there is a relationship between Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease and Stickler syndrome, a genetic connective tissue disease, that is a key cause of retinal detachment and potential blindness.
Surgical and non-surgical treatments are used in management.
Compare Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease to slipped capital femoral epiphysis.