Congenital dislocation of the hip.

Early diagnosis and treatment are the keys to a successful result in infants with congenital dislocation of the hip. In the neonatal period, a majority of infants with hips that would later be found to be dislocated can be detected and effectively treated. With the use of ultrasonography to supplement clinical suspicion, the number of children with congenital dislocation of the hip diagnosed in the newborn period should be expected to increase. Repeated examination, especially during the first 6 months of life, can be expected to detect those additional children with congenital dislocation of the hip who were not detected in the nursery. The Pavlik harness has been shown to obtain a successful result in most children younger than 6 months of age while holding the incidence of avascular necrosis to nearly zero. Even though these results are encouraging, the problem must be discovered early for the child with congenital dislocation of the hip to be treated optimally. Thus, it is of the utmost importance that the physician have an awareness of this problem. The primary physician must also continue to conscientiously examine the hips of patients on a regular basis even after the initial examination and, when necessary, use the added modalities available to him or her to accurately diagnose questionable hip conditions of patients.