[Ultrasonography in legg-calvé-perthes disease].

Several last reports showed a very good utility of US visualisation in Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease especially in the assessment of the lateral extrusion of the femoral head and the subchondral fracture. Prospective analysis of 43 patients with 53 affected hip joints in this study showed that the hip joint effusion and synovitis have to be differentiated. Effusion occured only in the early stages of the disease. Sensitivity of US detection of the femoral head deformity was 87,3 % in this group compared with X-ray diagnosis. Assessment of the lateral extrusion seems to be rather inaccurate due to the high inter-observer error. A new approach which was suggested, posterior scanning of the flexed hip joint can be effective only if the femoral head is fragmented. US could replace classical X-ray, hopefully, only very partially. Key words: ultrasonography, Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease.