We reviewed the records of 202 patients (308 hips) in whom a slipped
capital femoral epiphysis had been fixed with pins or screws. A serious
complication that was directly related to the use of internal fixation
developed in eighty hips (26 per cent). The rate of complications in the
202 patients was 40 per cent. In thirty-six (18 per cent) of the 202
patients, an additional procedure was done to correct a pin-related
complication. Forty-one hip joints had been penetrated by a pin. Other
complications included avascular necrosis (fourteen hips), chondrolysis
(nine), fracture (one), infection (one), further slippage (one),
sciatic-nerve injury (one), and breakage of a screw (eight). Ways of
decreasing the incidence of complications of fixation were explored.