Case report of habitual dislocation of the hip in children and a review of systematic literature / 中华骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the clinical effect of observation and psychological intervention, splint or brace fixation as well as surgical treatment on habitual dislocation of the hip (HDH) and to combine the authors' data with a compilation of the cases from the literature, evaluingating the epidemiological characteristics of HDH and the treatment scheme to maintain the stability of hip joint by systematic literature review in children.Methods:A retrospective analysis of the relevant data of 11 patients (12 hips) with HDH were treated from March 2007 to March 2021, including 2 boys and 9 girls. The age of the first dislocation was 2.25 (1.66, 3.75) years old and 4.33 (3.33, 6.17) years old at the age of diagnosis. At the same time, the relevant literature reports were searched from 1932 to 2022, and 24 HDH patients reports and clinical studies were confirmed to be included in this study according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data of 33 patients (38 hips) with HDH who were obtained in the literature, including 5 boys and 28 girls. The age of the first dislocation was 2.00 (1.50, 2.00) years old and 4.00 (2.55, 5.00) years old at the age of diagnosis. A total of 44 patients (50 hips) with HDH who were analyzed, including gender, age of first dislocation, age of diagnosis, mode of stimulating dislocation, side and direction of dislocation, accompanying symptoms, family history, trauma history and imaging examination. The data of 41 patients with HDH (3 patients were excluded due to lack of treatment description) were treated with observation and psychological intervention in 19 patients, splint or brace fixation in 13 patients, and surgical treatment in 9 patients. The femoral neck-stem angle, acetabular index, central edge angle (CE angle) and Reimers instability index were measured by AutoCAD software, and the hip function was evaluated by Harris standard. Meantime, the disappearance time of dislocation was recorded.Results:The average follow-up time of 44 patients (50 hips) with HDH were 4.05±2.93 years old, and the time of disappearance of dislocation after treatment were 1.28±1.19 years old. Patients were diagnosed as 7 boys and 37 girls, 30 right and 8 left as well as 6 bilateral, the age of the first dislocation was 2.64±1.54 years old and 4.52±2.64 years old at the age of diagnosis. The data of 39 patients took hip flexion, adduction, internal rotation or hip flexion and adduction as the mode of stimulating dislocation. There were 43 patients with posterior dislocation, 41 patients with an audible "click" sound during dislocation, 36 patients with painless dislocation, and 37 patients with "vacuum phenomenon" were captured at the moment of dislocation. All patients with HDH had no specific family history and obvious history of trauma. There was no significant difference in general data between observation and psychological intervention group, splint or brace fixation group as well as surgical treatment group ( P>0.05). Harris standard to evaluate hip function, CE angle and Reimers instability index of the affected side were significantly different from those before and after treatment at the moment of dislocation ( H=127.51, P<0.001; H=55.70, P<0.001; H=54.69, P<0.001). Compared with the immediate disappearance of dislocation in the surgical treatment group, the disappearance time of dislocation in the observation and psychological intervention group and the splint or brace fixation group were significantly longer, and the difference was statistically significant ( H=20.83, P<0.001). Conclusion:Without specific family history and obvious trauma at young girls, painless posterior dislocation of hip with an audible "click" sound and "vacuum phenomenon" at the moment of dislocation are the significant epidemiological characteristics of HDH. Observation and psychological intervention, splint or brace fixation are recommended as the initial treatment scheme. When conservative treatment is ineffective, surgical treatment is needed to stabilize the hip joint quickly.