Abstract
The object of this work was to retrospectively study the recommendations and the results of cruent reduction of idiopathic congenital displacement of the hip following ineffective orthopaedic treatment.
From 1993 to 2001, 15 cruent reductions were performed in 11 children (seven girls and four boys). Initially, the 15 hips were treated by orthopaedic techniques (Pavlik harness and/or slow reduction according to the Sommerville-Petit method). Four of these have benefitted from surgical treatments after orthopaedic treatment proved to be ineffective (psoas tenotomy, Salter osteotomy). At the time of the cruent reduction the mean age was 24 months (range 9 months to 5 years). For the surgical reduction, always associated with a shortening-derotation osteotomy of femur, the Smith-Petersen antero-medial approach was used. In five of these cases, the cruent reduction was complemented by Salter osteotomy.
The mean post-surgical follow-up is 5.6 years (from 1 to 9 years). In none of the hips studied was recurrence of the dislocation observed. The functional outcome, studied by Mackay criteria, is good for all the hips. No significant dysmetria of the lower limbs was present. According to the radiological criteria in the classification of Severin outcome was good or excellent in 12 hips and average in three hips. According to the Bucholz and Ogden classification, six hips showed signs of necrosis as a result of the orthopaedic treatment. The surgical treatment did not cause necrosis in the remaining nine hips.
Recourse to a surgical procedure can result because of the anatomical obstacles typical of specific dislocations. Surgical reduction must be considered as an operation to preserve the hip; this operation is suitable at about 1 year of age if progressive orthopaedic practices are ineffective. Before 2 years of age, the cotyloid cavity can continue to develop after femoral head reduction, whereas, after this age, it is preferable to integrate a Salter osteotomy with the cruent reduction.
