Ultrasound for screening developmental dysplasia of the hip: a European perspective

Abstract

For the past 20 years, sonography of the hip has become the imaging procedure of choice to diagnose hip maturation disorders in German-speaking countries. In Austria, hip sonography is a mandatory and essential feature of preventive public health measures; the "Mutter-Kind-Pass" has been the official medical identity card for mother and child since 1992 in Austria. This review summarizes the most recent literature dealing with ultrasound screening for developmental dysplasia of the hip in Europe. This article focuses on the results in recent articles about sonography screening of the hip joint in the first year of life. The continued development and refinement of the method, which is now standardized in German-speaking countries and hence can be taught in uniformly structured courses, has made sonography of the infant hip a gold standard for screening for developmental dysplasia of the hip in these countries.