Free-Gliding SCFE Screw System
Admin
At last, a true sliding screw for hips
SCFE (Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis) fixation is akin to Bruce lee punching a wall without breaking the egg in his fist, only during every single step, the kid takes.
You don’t want the physis to close, don’t want further slip, want a stable construct to allow ROM, without penetrating joint line, but want the epiphysis to heal back to neck – all in one shot.
One of the overlooked complications is limb length discrepancy (LLD) during follow-up. Screw fixations report an LLD of 14mm. What if the screw could grow along with the child? Here comes “The Free Gliding SCFE screw system” - a literal sliding screw for us
It’s a sliding screw system with medial and lateral threaded fixations, connected through a tri-lobe self-extending shaft, aiming to increase overall stability (both longitudinal and rotational) while avoiding the risk of premature physeal closure. It is a 6.5 system, 2.9x stiffer and with load and moment yield 1.9x more than a 4.8 screw of the same length. The mean LLD on follow-up is 3mm. Upon its use in prophylactic cases, it allowed neck lengthening which theoretically can prevent CAM impingement. Both the studies have not noted any Chondrolysis. Luck? Or is there anything else at play?
Of course, we need more evidence but this seems an interesting line of thinking for SCFE fixation. Here is the link to how this works. Share your thoughts.
