A new open reduction treatment for congenital hip dislocation: long-term follow-up of the extensive anterolateral approach.

Congenital hip dislocation, which is conservatively unmanageable, has usually been treated using open reduction. However, a long-term follow-up study of the results suggests that this procedure is unsatisfactory. Since 1973, Tanabe has used a new open reduction procedure that circumferentially dissects the joint capsule and produces sufficient concentric reduction of the femoral head in the acetabulum immediately after the surgery. Fifty-six children (65 hips) from the age of 1 to 3 years were treated by this procedure, and fifty-one of them were clinically and roentgenographically followed up from 6.3 to 12.4 years after the surgery. At the final follow-up session, all children had grown to be over 9 years of age, and no patient had clinically significant symptoms. According to Severin's classification, 33 hips were rated in Group I, and 14 hips in Group II. Another 10 hips were in Group III, and one hip was in Group IV. The incidence of avascular necrosis was 5.2 per cent. These data suggest that our procedure is more useful than the previous ones.