Interruption of the blood supply of femoral head: an experimental study on the pathogenesis of Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease

Introduction The etiology of LCPD still is not clear. Thrombosis has been accused in the pathogenesis of LCPD but it is not proven untill now. The aim of this study is to evaluate the results of single episode of obstruction of blood supply to the femoral heads of dogs. Materials and methods Blood supply femoral heads of 45 dogs was interrupted with embolisation with gel foam. The radiologic appearances, macroscopic and microscopic specimes of the hips were evaluated and compared with the human specimens of 15 LCPD patients obtained at the time of femoral osteotomies. Results After one infarct, we demonstrated changes in femoral heads of puppies showing close resemblance to the findings of LCPD in human. Conclusion Obstruction of the femoral head caused by single artificial emboli caused changes in the femoral head similiar to LCPD. The cause of the obstruction is obscure, intravascular and/or extravascular pathologies need specific attention, further studies focusing especially on the coagulation system are needed.