REGENERATION OF EPIPHYSIAL CENTERS OF OSSIFICATION

Abstract

Infection of the epiphysis of a long bone is usually secondary to suppurative arthritis or osteomyelitis of the adjacent metaphysis. Rarely the epiphysis may be the site of primary hematogenous infection. In adults and older children the contacted articular cartilage is frequently destroyed in pyogenic arthritis, exposing the epiphysial bone, which becomes secondarily infected and predisposes to ankylosis. The cartilaginous portion of the epiphysis in young children is relatively thick as compared to the osseous center, so that even extensive cartilage absorption may not expose the ossification center, and ankylosis is less common. But if such a center of ossification is infected, it may be partly or completely destroyed, while the thick cartilaginous portion of the epiphysis is preserved to a greater or lesser degree. Destruction of the osseous center is particularly apt to occur if the infection interferes with its blood supply, as may be the case when the