Slipped Upper Femoral Epiphysis occurs most commonly in overweight teenage boys and the pathological process involves slippage of the proximal femoral epiphysis relative to the neck of femur through the hypertrophic layer of the growth plate. These patients present with hip pain or, on occasion, knee pain, as well as a stiff hip, which deviate into abduction and external rotation with flexion. Sometimes these patients present with hip pain, which resolves, only to recur at a later stage when more severe slippage occurs.
A high index of suspicion for this condition should be maintained, based on the fact that management involves internal fixation of the hip without reduction of the slipped epiphysis. The more severe the slip becomes, the more likely the patient is to suffer from cam impingement during early adulthood or to require closed reduction of the slip, which carries a series was of avascular necrosis with it. Abnormal head-neck anatomy may lead to early onset of osteoarthritis.
