Study: Ultrasound can sub for x-ray in infant hip dysplasia diagnosis
Ultrasound has been shown to be reliable in diagnosing hip dysplasia in five-to-seven-month old infants and offers an alternative to x-ray in screening for the condition, according to research presented Feb. 9 at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) in San Francisco.
Hip dysplasia, or developmental dislocation of the hip (DDH), can be present at birth or develop during a child's first year of life. Plain radiography has long been the gold standard screening modality for this condition in six-month old infants, despite concerns about exposure to ionizing radiation.
Alison Kitay, MD, of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, and colleagues hypothesized that ultrasound, typically not used for screening children older than newborns, would be effective for DDH screening in six-month old infants.
The researchers prospectively screened 35 five-to-seven-month old infants at high risk for DDH with the standard anterior-posterior pelvis x-ray and bilateral non-stress hip ultrasounds. One of the 35 patients was diagnosed with dysplasia, and the diagnosis was made on both ultrasound and x-ray.
“Despite the age of the patients and the appearance of the ossific nucleus in 33 hips, ultrasound provided good quality images with 100 percent diagnostic correlation to x-ray in all patients,” wrote the authors.
“Clinicians can avoid exposing asymptomatic six-month old children to ionizing radiation by substituting ultrasound for plain radiography as the DDH screening modality of choice in this age group.”
Hip dysplasia, or developmental dislocation of the hip (DDH), can be present at birth or develop during a child's first year of life. Plain radiography has long been the gold standard screening modality for this condition in six-month old infants, despite concerns about exposure to ionizing radiation.
Alison Kitay, MD, of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, and colleagues hypothesized that ultrasound, typically not used for screening children older than newborns, would be effective for DDH screening in six-month old infants.
The researchers prospectively screened 35 five-to-seven-month old infants at high risk for DDH with the standard anterior-posterior pelvis x-ray and bilateral non-stress hip ultrasounds. One of the 35 patients was diagnosed with dysplasia, and the diagnosis was made on both ultrasound and x-ray.
“Despite the age of the patients and the appearance of the ossific nucleus in 33 hips, ultrasound provided good quality images with 100 percent diagnostic correlation to x-ray in all patients,” wrote the authors.
“Clinicians can avoid exposing asymptomatic six-month old children to ionizing radiation by substituting ultrasound for plain radiography as the DDH screening modality of choice in this age group.”
Evan Godt, Writer
Evan joined TriMed in 2011, writing primarily for Health Imaging. Prior to diving into medical journalism, Evan worked for the Nine Network of Public Media in St. Louis. He also has worked in public relations and education. Evan studied journalism at the University of Missouri, with an emphasis on broadcast media.