Operative treatment of developmental hip dysplasia in children aged over 8 years

Nine patients aged over 8 years with developmental dislocation of the hip were treated by an open reduction, femoral shortening and varus derotation osteotomy with or without a Chiari osteotomy. The mean age of the patients was 11.1 years (range 8-17 years), and the mean follow-up period was 7.1 years (range 1-13 years). The left hip was involved in four cases: the right in three and two cases were bilateral. One hip redislocated. The remaining patients recovered nearly full movement of the affected hip. Five out of eight patients had a normal gait without limping or pain. Two others limped secondary to a leg-length discrepancy, which was corrected with leg equalization. The remaining patient had an improvement of her preoperative limp and was pain-free. These results indicate that it is possible to obtain good hip function after open reduction of a developmentally dislocated hip, even after the age of 8 years.