Painful sequelae of coxa plana.

Thirty-one patients with an average age of twenty-seven years had painful hips as the result of coxa plana in childhood. The pain was severe enough for surgical relief to be considered. Radiographically the lesions could be subdivided into three groups: severe mushroom deformity of the femoral head, 43 per cent; less severe dysplasia of the hip, 27 per cent; and severe osteoarthritis, 30 per cent. Twenty-three hip operations were done on theses patients. Fifteen hips showed radiographic evidence of definitive premature closure of the femoral capital epiphysis. The series is presented to illustrate that coxa plana may be followed by major disability in the hip within the first three decades of life.