[Acute purulent arthritis of the limbs in the infant and child. Long term course (author's transl)].

The authors study the long term course of 37 cases of purulent arthritis of the limbs in the child, for which complete radiological documents covering a period of more than a year were available. They describe in particular the sequelae observed in 25 cases, classifying them by joint and by increasing order of severity. They then attempt, in the light of their own findings and of other published series, to draw conclusions concerning the main factors in prognosis--the age at the time of onset of the arthritis, the treatment given and the joint involved. The prognosis is all the more gloomy when a newborn or young infant is involved, when there is a delay before treatment is started or in the absence of joint aspiration-drainage and when the hip is affected.