Harmon Technique in The Treatment of Hip Septic Arthritis

Abstract

Septic arthritis of the hip can result in resious seqelae especially in infants. Documented longterm results in the treatment of these resultant sequelae are extremely limited. A 26 month old baby girl with bronchopneumonia was diagnosed to have had septic arthritis of her left hip and proximal femoral osteomyelitis for which she was operated twice; 8 months later using the Harmon technique, a third operation was performed as a result of femoral head and neck degeneration. A 6,5 year period follow up, demonstrated a high degree of remodelling of the head and neck, with an accompanied loss of 6 cm. in length of the extremity.