50 Years Ago in CORR: Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis Wiliam J. Schnute, MD, CORR 1958;11:63–80

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Before the turn of the 20^th century, the diagnosis of slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE), as the condition now is understood, was not known. Traumatic separation of the epiphyses, however, was recognized much earlier, and according to Poland [13], perhaps the first recognition of epiphyseal separation was by Realdus Columbus in 1559. Earlier descriptions, he thought, were sufficiently imprecise to know whether the authors (and in particular, Hippocrates) were referring to the same entity. Poland’s exhaustive work (926 pages, 337 illustrations and “skiagrams” or radiographs) from 1898, well documents previous contributions, but suggests it was not until 1759 when M. Geo. Christian Reichel clearly distinguished traumatic separation of the proximal femoral epiphyses from other diseases and injuries. (Readers interested in this history will find the complete work of Poland available at http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=lang_en|lang_fr|lang_de|lang_it&id=58v7umad4A8C&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=separation+poland&ots=XhviB_NcUB&sig=bUzA3roemuAWcNcQorzcNB0Cx60#v=onepage&q=separation%20poland&f=false.) Poland noted a common problem with those wishing to trace the history of medical disorders: “Various names have been applied…to these injuries, such as disjunction, divulsion, epiphyseal detachment or separation, juxta-epiphysial fracture and separation, epiphyseal diastasis.” In addition, the diagnosis in preradiographic times was frequently imprecise or uncertain. …