Comparing the rate of femoral head necrosis of two different treatments of congenital dislocation of the hip.

We examined 120 patients with 140 congenital dislocations of the hip joint for femoral head necrosis. Of these, 77 hips were reduced with a Hoffmann-Daimler brace and the patients were subsequently placed in a spica cast in Lange position after a period in the Lorenz position. The hips of 43 patients were reduced the same way but were retained in a spica as described by Fettweis. The Lorenz group showed 10 grade II and III femoral head necroses, whereas there was only one grade III necrosis in the Fettweis group. The results were compared with the collected statistics of the German survey of congenital dislocation of the hip.