THE HERRING LATERAL PILLAR CLASSIFICATION FOR PROGNOSIS IN PERTHES-DISEASE

We reviewed the radiographs of 49 patients with Perthes' disease at th e stage of fragmentation and also after the end of skeletal growth to assess the value of the lateral pillar classification of Herring, The average age of the patients at diagnosis was 7 years 6 months and the mean follow-up was 24 years, Ten of the 11 Herring group-A hips showed good reconstruction of the femoral head. There were good results in g roup-B hips when the patients were less than nine years of age at diag nosis, All 11 group-C patients showed hip deformity at follow-up, The Herring classification provides a valid long-term prognosis in Perthes ' disease, although age at diagnosis is also an important prognostic f actor, The classification is relatively easy to apply, is reliable, an d requires only an anteroposterior radiograph taken during the fragmen tation stage of the disease.