[Sonographic examination of children's hip joints. Initial experience]

The authors present their first experience with sonographic examination of children's hip joints. Between May 1988 and the end of 1989 they examined in total 4000 children's hip joints. They made a group of patients comprising 1500 hip joints in 750 children. The examination was performed by a portable sonographic 5 MHz probe. In the given group there occurred the decrease of the number of pathological x-ray findings in the 3rd month to 6.6 per cent as compared to 14.1 per cent in the control group. The authors explain this decrease by a timely treatment also of clinically negative findings in case of the pathological sonographic finding in the maternity hospital.