The Incidence of Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis

Part (1572) describes separation of the upper femoral epiphysis in this manner: "Likewise the epiphysis of the head of this bone sometimes gets loose and separates so that the surgeon is misled, estimating that there is a dis1ocatio.nand not a separation of the epiphysis of the bone in question.Here the young surgeon shall notice that the epiphyses of the bones often get loose and separate due to inner or outer causes: outer sometimes by the fault of the surgeon, who manipulates the tender bones of the small children too rudely, or by falling or other causes . ..: inner caused by certain fluids which have been floating and rotting in the joint as seen in pox and small-pox or by not variolar fluids."Although it has thus long been clear that there can be different causes of epiphyseal separations in the femur, it is often impossible to maintain the distinction.This paper therefore deals with slipping epiphyses of the femur, irrespective of aetiology.