The diagnosis of congenital hip-joint dislocation by the ultrasonic Combound treatment.
Graf R. Archives of orthopaedic and traumatic surgery. Archiv fur orthopadische und Unfall-Chirurgie 1980 · PMID 7458597 · doi:10.1007/bf00450934
- Question
- Can ultrasound reliably image the infant hip to diagnose congenital dislocation and dysplasia?
- Design
- Descriptive clinical report setting out an ultrasound technique for the infant hip (Part I) and its practical results over an 18-month period (Part II).
- Patients
- Infants assessed for congenital dislocation of the hip.
- Intervention
- Static coronal ultrasound of the infant hip
- Comparison
- None (descriptive series)
- Primary outcome
- Feasibility of diagnosing hip dislocation and dysplasia on ultrasound
- Key result
- Showed that the cartilaginous infant hip can be imaged diagnostically with ultrasound, a harmless, cheap and non-invasive method suited to screening, laying the foundation for the later Graf classification.
- Limitations
- Early descriptive work with no formal diagnostic accuracy statistics; limited by the image resolution of early equipment and highly operator dependent.
- Impact on practice
- The Graf method and its alpha angle remain the standard way UK units report DDH ultrasound scans, including those performed after NIPE screening referral.