Ultrasound-guided adult hip injections

The authors believe that ultrasound as a primary method of image guidance for performing hip aspirations is underutilized, and the authors report their experience in performing ultrasound-guided hip injections in 358 patients, using a free-hand technique.

A retrospective review of all adult ultrasound-guided hip injections performed at the authors' institution over a four-year period was performed.

Retrospective review of an ultrasound database revealed 358 adult hip aspirations/injections were performed at the authors' institution from October 2000-October 2004. All procedures were performed using a longitudinal, anterior approach and without the use of a needle guide. There were no reported cases of inadvertent vascular or femoral nerve puncture.

To the authors' knowledge, this is the largest reported series of sonographically-guided adult hip aspirations/injections without the use of a needle guide. The authors believe that ultrasound as a primary method of image guidance for performing hip aspirations is underutilized. The absence of radiation and relatively short procedure time of ultrasound-guided hip injections are favorable factors to both the authors' referring clinician population as well as the patients.