Surgical treatment of developmental dysplasia of the hip

Ideally, developmental dysplasia of the hip is treated early in childhood by nonsurgical methods. If these methods are ineffective, surgical reduction in a nonambulating child is required. A young child (age 6 to 18 months) who requires surgical reduction can be treated by formal anterior open reduction or by the medial Ludloff approach to the hip. Additional bony procedures are usually not required in these young patients. Delayed diagnosis is still common, requiring surgical reduction for children of walking age. These older children usually require formal open reduction (anterior approach) plus an associated bony osteotomy (acetabular, proximal femoral, or, in some cases, both types of osteotomies) to better stabilize the hip. The addition of a proximal femoral derotational shortening osteotomy for open reduction in older children was first used in children older than 3 years, but now it is commonly used in children as young as 2 years. This osteotomy decreases the forces on the reduced hip and minimizes the chances for redislocation and osteonecrosis. In all surgical procedures for developmental dysplasia of the hip, the surgeon must avoid too great a focus on bony osteotomies because the management of soft-tissue abnormalities is critical in achieving a stable reduction.