CORRELATION BETWEEN PATHOLOGICAL CLINICAL FINDINGS AND SONOGRAPHIC EXAMINATIONS IN INFANT HIPS

The relevance of clinical signs of infant hip dysplasia and the import ance of a sonographic newborn - hip screening are often discussed. Bet ween 1984 and 1990 at our department 6532 infant hips were examined bo th clinically and sonographically. Sonographic hip findings were patho logical in 71.7% of the hips with positive clinical Roser-Ortolani sig n and in 100% of the hips with positive Hilgenreiner sign. In contrast , pathological hip types according to Graf were seen only in 18% of th e hips with limitations of the abductions of the hip joint. Examining other clinical signs for infant hip dysplasia within this study, as we ll we can conclude, that only the Roser-Ortolani sign and that of Hilg enreiner showed a high specificity for infant hip dysplasia, while mos t of the clinical signs e.g. limitation of abduction in the hip joint are rather unspecific.