Clinical assessment of the thigh and leg with the use of anatomic repairs and correlation with the radiographic evaluation in children between 7 and 12 years of age in the city of Londrina, state of Parana, Brazil

Abstract

Limb length discrepancies are common in the general population, but they only cause functional problems when they are over 1.5 cm. Objective: To make a correlation between clinical and radiological assessments of children´s thigh and leg lengths between 7-12 yrs, through slit scanogram measurement. Method: Prospective study of limb length in 300 children between 7-12 yrs, of both sexes, through clinical measurement using a measuring tape and radiographic assessment using the supine slit scanogram technique. The correlation between the assessments was made by simple linear regression. Results and discussion: The statistical analysis showed that there are differences between the clinical and the radiographic assessments (p<0.05). The simple linear regression was used to verify the correlation and to define the correlation equation. Using this equation, it is possible to define the radiographic values based on the clinical assessment. Conclusion: The clinical and radiographic assessments are statistically different; however, there is a correlation between them, which allows the use of an equation to predict the radiographic values based on the clinical assessment.