Congenital dislocation of the hip.

Neonatal hip dysplasia remains a difficult condition to diagnose and treat. Early periodic infant hip examination is the primary screening tool, but subtle hip instabilities can go undetected until fixed dislocations are discovered when the child begins to walk. Early nonoperative intervention in the neonatal period is usually effective using a Pavlik-type harness. For infants in whom this disorder is discovered after walking age, surgery is often needed to successfully reduce the hip. Radiographic evaluation of neonatal hip dysplasia is often difficult, but the evolving use of ultrasound, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging is making this easier. The role of ultrasound as a primary screening device in the United States remains to be defined.