Our 12-year-old had a hip pinning procedure for a condition called SCFE. It had to be done so there are no regrets. But I've been doing some looking on-line and see there are quite a few children who have this surgery who end up having another operation. What do they have and why?
There was a recent study at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota that may have some information to answer your questions. They took a look at the long-term results for patients who were treated for slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE) with in situ pinning. In situ pinning means to pin the epiphysis "in position" where it has slipped. But it is not put back in its normal anatomic place. So there are some questions about how well this approach works. What happens years down the road when the growth center fuses in a nonanatomic position? The Mayo surgeons observed that patients who had the in situ pinning still complained of persistent pain, stiffness, and difficulty with movement. This was true even when the slip was considered "mild." To find out more about why this might be happening, they reviewed the medical records (including X-rays) and telephoned 105 patients who had in situ pinning of the hip as children/teens. Patients were interviewed and completed surveys over the phone answering questions about pain, mental and physical health, and hip stiffness and dysfunction. They gathered information about patients who had to have further surgery after the pinning procedure. The type of surgeries were reported (femoral osteotomy, surgical hip dislocation, total hip replacement). They also evaluated the data to find risk factors that might predict who would have ongoing pain and disability. Here's a quick summary of what they found: