["Prognostic" analysis of late results of trochanteric femoral osteotomy following post-traumatic malalignment].

Post-traumatic axial malalignment of the lower limbs causes osteoarthrosis of the adjacent joints. Whether or not correction osteotomy is indicated depends upon the degree and the location of the deformity. Malalignment of the proximal femur should be corrected if the axis of the leg does not pass through the knee joint. If the axis is outside the central half of the tibial head, the indication for correction osteotomy is a relative one: varus deformities are more difficult to compensate and it is more urgent that these be corrected. Of 103 patients who underwent osteotomies of the proximal femur during the period 1973-1981, there were 73 in whom it was possible to follow up an average of 7 years after the realignment procedure. In nearly two-thirds of these patients the clinical symptoms noted before surgery had improved. In 10 cases of pseudarthrosis of the femoral neck, necrosis of the femoral head could not be avoided in spite of the surgical correction; nonetheless, the prognosis is better if the correction is done within the first 3 months after the trauma.