Magnetic resonance imaging in Legg-Calvè-Perthes disease: review of literature.

Even after 100 years, problems of early evaluation, classification, and treatment of Legg-Calvè-Perthes disease (LCPD) are still under discussion. In the past, most of the studies on the natural history of LCPD proved that majority of the cases heal spontaneously without functional impairment at maturity, but if we consider the late results a considerable number of hips become painful and require prosthesis. Thus, in this review the results of the several important papers published in the last 40 years and the articles about magnetic resonance imaging in LCPD are analyzed to evaluate whether there can be a new way to reach an early best diagnosis to improve the prognostic evaluation.