Has anyone ever heard of pertha or know anyone with it? All I know is that it is a condition that usually affects young boys between the ages of 4 and 10. It causes the hip bone to degenerate because of a lack of blood supply to the area. If you know of anyone who has gone through this with a child please respond. I would appreciate the info.

Could it be Perth's disease? My husband has AVN(avascular necrosis) and on the site for the AVN it lists Perths disease as the children's version of AVN. My husband has had a CD(core decompression) on his right hip and since the bones on his left hip are dying now he faces a total hip replacement in the next few years. A big cause in a lot of causes of Perth's and AVN is steroids. Prednisone especially.85% of the people in our support group say they took them for pain or asthma then developed this disease which causes your bones to die. My hubby took them for a herniated disc 6 years ago and developed AVN 2 years ago. Good luck to you. AVN and Perth's is a nasty disease. Has your son taken steroids for anything? What have the doctors told you about his bones and what stage the disease is in. Do a google search on AVN and Perth's there are some great support groups out there with lots of info on this disease. I hope this is not what your son has but he is lucky that you are taking control and getting info to make sure you are informed. Information is the key to battling any of these diseases.Try here for more info http://members.aol.com/MarieS1520/2bkn.html
This is the OV/AVN website

[This message has been edited by callie3 (edited 09-13-2003).]

Thanks Callie...Yes the disease is perthes. It is a family that I am very close to who has a little boy just diagnosed with this. He will be on crutches for a long long time and they have been told it can take 2-3 years to heal. The blood supply to his right hip was somehow weakened, which then caused the hip bone to, like you said, start dying. I don't know yet about the stage or whether he has taken steroids. How long did these other people and your husband take the steroids? Does it vary or were most of them on them for a long time? I hope things get better for your husband. I am sure this is a tough battle. So far this little guy has been a trooper but I can't imagine being an active 10 year old and being told all activity has to stop for maybe 3 years!

Sizzler,

I'm sorry your friend's son is going thru this. It's tough for my husband and he is 43 so I can only imagine what a child feels. I also work with a 30 yr old woman who just had both hips replaced due to this disease and she said she took prednisone just a couple of times. Doctors won't swear this is what causes it but when most everyone who has it took steroids at some time then its safe to say its more than a coincidence. Most people who take steroids will never get the disease and some that have it never took steroids. It affects the bone at the joints. You can get it in the hips,shoulders,and knees to name a few. It's painful. My husband had surgery on his right hip and now says he feels it worsening in his left which can mean more surgery later. Make sure your friends get a doctor that is very familiar with AVN/perthes. Our first doctor specializes in hip replacements and we saw another who specializes in CD's so each doctor felt his surgery would work better for the AVN. There are so many different treatments out there for this disease(most surgical) that research is your best option. There are different stages of the disease 1-5(hubby is 4) 5 being collapse of the bone. Usually xrays can't pick it up so if it was diagnosed by xray then it has really gotten bad. (Hubby was stage 3 on his xray and we waited until stage 4 for surgery)One of his legs is now shorter than the other and he limps badly. This disease is not fatal but incurable. Patients live with the fear of it redeveoping in other spots. My best advice to you friends is to learn EVERYTHING they can about this disease and the different surgeries. See which doctors really know their stuff about the disease and get second opinions.The child will have to live with whatever path they take so its best to get all the info available and really drill the doctors. We were told that my husband being so young made him a good candidate for the CD versus the hip replacement(they last about 10 years and have to be redone in some cases) After the problems he has had with the CD(a lot fail and we fear his is failing now) we wish we had chosen the hip replacement. Good luck to your friends and their child. It's a long,scary road but if they are armed with facts and info when they go in its easier to understand the disease. I loved the look on my doctors face when I started talking stages,CD's,hip replacements etc. He changed his tune and realized that we were not going to follow him without questions and that we knew what we were talking about. I'm really surprised we do not have an AVN/Perthes board here. It falls under bone diseases but a search showed very few have mentioned it. Good luck!