Abnormal epiphyses in the sickling disorders

As treatment of the sickling disorders improves, the patients presumably will live longer and have a greater opportunity to develop epiphyseal infarcts. Consequently, infarcts and their sequelae may be expected to represent an increasingly important source of debility in the sickling disorders. Early diagnosis of epiphyseal infarction and prompt institution of adequate treatment possibly would decrease the frequency of secondary collapse with resulting functional disability. The authors reviewed the roentgenograms of 400 patients discharged from the Johns Hopkins Hospital between January 1968 and July 1971 with a diagnosis of one of the sickling disorders. Unequivocal epiphyseal abnormalities were found in 37 patients.