Occult Fractures of the Femoral Head in Children

Abstract

Occult fractures of the hip are rare; they are almost absent from published medical literature and the studies that are reported concern fractures in the elderly population. In this paper the cases of two children, nine and 16 years old are presented who suffered occult fractures of the femoral head during high-energy traumatisms. Conventional X-ray did not reveal bone lesions, although it did show a discrete eccentration of the cephalic nucleus and the diagnosis was delayed until more specific image techniques were applied: bone scanning with Tc99, CT and MRI, revealed fracture from compression in Case 1 and osteochondral fracture in Case 2. The treatment consisted of non-weight-bearing of the joint in the first case and removal of the fragment by arthroscopy in the second. The outcome was good in both patients who had no pain in the hip and complete mobility one year later.