Prediction for prognosis from radiologic measurements of patients treated with the Pavlik harness for congenital dislocation of the hip.

Abstract

Radiologic measurement was made in 96 hips of 96 female patients with congenital dislocation of the hip (CDH) treated only with the Pavlik harness before reaching age 6 months until time of maturity. Radiographs were retrospectively examined to determine whether prognosis of the hip joints was predictable up to approximately 3 years of age. Highly accurate prediction was possible using multivariate analysis. The patient group assessed as "satisfactory" with discriminant analysis had an incidence of Severin's classification of group III or lower of < 1% of significance level. This analysis appears to be a useful screening method for judging CDH after treatment.