Does early treatment by abduction splintage improve the development of dysplastic but stable neonatal hips?

A prospective trial was carried out to assess the outcome of children aged from 2 to 6 weeks with stable but dysplastic hips, treated with abduction s plintage or by observation. Forty-four patients with 63 dysplastic hips wer e entered into the study and allocated into the two treatment groups at ran dom. The ultrasound measured percentage acetabular cover in the splinted gr oup improved in the first 3 months from an average of 32.8 to 54.3%. In the unsplinted group, the increase in cover was from 36.7 to 48.6%. The change s in cover for the splinted group were significantly more than those for th e unsplinted group (p < 0.003) There was, however, no significant differenc e between the two groups in acetabular angle measurements on plain radiogra phs taken at 3 months. At 24 months, similarly, there was no significant di fference in the acetabular angles of the two groups. These results support the view that stable dysplastic hips will correct with growth and that ther e is no sustained benefit from early splintage.