Open Reduction with Femoral Shortening in Congenital Dislocation of the Hip

We reviewed the results of operative treatment in 20 patients (23 hips) with congenital dislocation of the hip. Patients age at surgery raged from 11 months to 4 years. Average follow-up period was 8.1 years. The surgical procedure included open reduction, derotation and varus femoral osteotomy and femoral shortening. Salter pelvic osteotomy was later added in 9 hips.The postoperative clinical results were excellent or good in all whole patients. Radiographic evaluation using the Severin grading system revealed excellent or good results in 13 of 17 hips (76%).We found no evidence of avascular necrosis of the femoral head. These results show that decompression by femoral shortening is important to prevent avascular necrosis of the femoral head.