This book documents all the ways a growth plate can be damaged, other than fracture. This damage can be inflicted by a wide variety of insults, most of which are uncommon occurrences. They all, however, have two similar characteristics: normal roentgenographs at the time of insult and premature complete or partial arrest noted weeks, months, or years later. Because of this delay, the arrest is often not suspected or recognised early. The resulting bone deformity and relative shortening usually go undetected until corrective surgery is needed. This book emphasises etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of these injuries.

Hamlet A. Peterson is an emeritus orthopedic surgeon at Mayo Clinic, Rochester. His career consisted of 30 years as a consultant in pediatric orthopedics at Mayo Clinic. He has published numerous articles and book chapters, many of which are concerned with the growth plate. During his time in practice, he encountered numerous interesting growth plate problems and began collecting them. He retired in 1997; and in addition to writing articles, reviewing articles for the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics and the Yearbook of Orthopaedics, speaking at national and international meetings, and consulting on cases (primarily growth plate problems) from the U.S. and overseas, he has been working on collecting the material for this book. As such, he has access to the Mayo Clinic patient archives and medical library. He is the founder and past president of the Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America. He has received the POSNA Award for Distinguished Achievement in 2005 for his pioneering work as a pediatric orthopedist, for his long-term and distinguished role as founding member of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Study Group and the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, for his long-term commitment to teaching and clinical research, and for his outstanding work in the field of growth plate injury and the treatment of growth arrest.

From the contents:
Vascular Deficiency

Disuse
Infection
Tumor
Metabolic
Neural
Cold (frostbite)
Heat (burn)
Electric
Compression
Distraction
Stress
Irradiation
Light Waves
Sound Waves
Shock Waves
Atmospheric Pressure
Oxygen
Developmental
Surgical
Unknown.