Total hip arthroplasty in patients with slipped capital femoral epiphysis: a systematic analysis of 915 cases

There is limited evidence on the outcomes of Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) in Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis (SCFE) patients. This systematic review aims to evaluate the current literature in terms of survival rate, functional outcomes, complications and types of implants of THA in SCFE patients. Following the established methodology of PRISMA guidelines, PubMed, Cochrane library, ScienceDirect and Ovid MEDLINE were systematically searched from inception to September 2018. The search criteria used were: (“total hip arthroplasty’’ OR ‘’total hip replacement’’ OR “hip arthroplasty’’ OR ‘’hip replacement’’) AND (‘’slipped capital femoral epiphysis’’ OR ‘’slipped upper femoral epiphysis’’ OR ‘’femoral epiphysis’’). Ten studies were finally included in the analysis and were qualitatively appraised using the Newcastle-Ottawa tool. Variables were reported differently between studies. The sample size varied from 12 to 374 THAs. A total of 877 patients undergone 915 THAs. The mean reported follow-up ranged from 4.4 to 15.2 years and the mean patients’ age at the time of THA from 26 to 50 years. Four studies specified the type of implants used, with 62% being uncemented, 24% hybrid (uncemented cup/cemented stem) and 14% cemented. All but three studies reported the mean survival of implants that ranged from 64.9% to 94.8%. A limited number of complications were mentioned. There was a tendency for more favorable functional outcomes in modern studies. Modern THA-studies in SCFE patients showed improvement of survivorship, clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction. Future higher-quality studies are necessary to estimate long-term postoperative outcomes better.