Abduction treatment in late diagnosed congenital dislocation of the hip. Follow-up of 1,010 hips treated with the Frejka pillow 1967-76.

There are many countries such as Poland where treatment of congenital hip dislocation is started late. The purpose of this work was to report our results in this group of children. 1010 hips in 780 children with congenital dislocation of the hip were treated with the Frejka pillow. The early results were evaluated in 830 hips at 15-36 months of age and the late results in 527 hips at a mean age of 14 (10-21) years. 90 percent of the children were treated by the same physician. The age at the onset of the treatment varied from 2 weeks to 24 months, with 12 percent younger than 3 months and 28 percent older than 6 months. The initial degree of dislocation was determined with our own index. Radiographic results were evaluated with a scoring based on four or six parameters. There were 6 percent failures, including lack of reduction or redislocation at the time when the child started to walk. Ischemic necrosis was observed in 14 percent of the hips, with significant permanent sequelae in 5 percent. Indications for surgical treatment of residual dysplasia were found in 4 percent of the hips evaluated early; and in the group evaluated late, still 5 percent of the hips required operation. There was good ability for spontaneous remodeling between the age of 3 and 7 years, whereas around the age of 10, the radiographic appearance of the hip became stabilized. At the end of treatment and at the time when the children started to walk, 59 percent of the early evaluated hips were still insufficiently remodeled; but in cases evaluated late, 95 percent of them had a normal or almost normal radiographic appearance. At that time, the clinical state of the children was satisfactory. The results of treatment depended on the initial degree of displacement. Only when treatment was begun after 5 months of age did the patient's age affect the treatment results. The Frejka pillow successfully reduced and stabilized these hips.