Total hip arthroplasty followed by traction and delayed reduction for Crowe IV developmental dysplasia of the hip.

Hip dislocation secondary to developmental dysplasia of the hip is a debilitating condition. Total hip arthroplasty has proven successful in improving pain, restoring joint function, and correcting leg length discrepancies in this select population. Various techniques have been developed to address the increased complexity inherent to the reconstruction of the severely dysplastic hip. Despite this, femoral and/or sciatic nerve palsy remains a potential catastrophic complication after surgery, with reported rates up to five times that in the general population. We present three cases using a previously unreported technique for performing primary total hip arthroplasty via an anterior approach for Crowe IV hip dysplasia. The goal of this technique is to minimize the risk of postoperative nerve palsy following reconstruction of the severely dysplastic hip. A brief discussion of our technique and the topic of nerve dysfunction after total hip arthroplasty for developmental dysplasia of the hip follows.