Aplasia of the pubic bone in conjunction with hip dislocation

Abstract

We describe here unilateral left hip dislocation in a 2-year-old child in conjunction with ipsilateral absence of the pubic bone. He was admitted to our hospital at 1 year of age and diagnosed with teratogenic dislocation of the left hip, aplasia of the left pubic bone, an undescended palpable left testicle and hypospadias. We performed open reduction through an anterior approach with preliminary skin traction for 1 week and spica cast for 3 months. The acetabular index was high both on admission and in the last radiographic control. Computerized tomography demonstrated dysplasia of the acetabulum and absence of the pubic bone. We concluded that the congenital absence of the left pubis was the major cause of the residual acetabular dysplasia. To our knowledge the conjunction of hip dislocation, aplasia of pubic bone and genitourinary anomalies has not been reported in the orthopaedic literature previously.