This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal My Folders Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Aird, J. J. Articles by Rollinson, P. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Aird, J. J. Articles by Rollinson, P.

Femoral torsion in patients with Blount’s disease

A PREVIOUSLY UNRECOGNISED COMPONENT

¹ Orthopaedic Department Ngwelezana Hospital, P/Bag X2 0021 Empangeni, Kwa-Zulu-Natal, 3880 South Africa.
² Orthopaedic Department Guys Hospital, London SE1 9RT, UK.

Correspondence should be sent to Mr J. J. Aird; e-mail: jamesaird{at}aol.com

In 1937 Blount described a series of 28 patients with ‘Tibia vara’. Since then, a number of deformities in the tibia and the femur have been described in association with this condition.

We analysed 14 children with Blount’s disease who were entered into a cross-sectional study. Their mean age was 10 (2 to 18). They underwent a clinical assessment of the rotational profile of their legs and a CT assessment of the angle of anteversion of their hips (femoral version). We compared our results to previously published controls. A statistically significant increase in femoral anteversion was noted in the affected legs, with on average the femurs in patients with Blount’s disease being 26° more anteverted than those in previously published controls.

We believe this to be a previously unrecognised component of Blount’s disease, and that the marked intoeing seen in the disease may be partly caused by internal femoral version, in addition to the well-recognised internal tibial version.