Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip with Concurrent Legg-Calvé-Perthes Disease in the Contralateral Hip

Abstract

Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is a common hip disorder in pediatrics; about one in 100 newborns has it due to dysplasia and one to two per 1000 have it due to dislocation. Some factors are responsible for the disease, and breech presentation has been identified as a major risk factor. It might be associated with other conditions too. Patients with Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease present with painless limping gait with idiopathic etiology; it is unilateral in most of the cases. This paper reported a rare scenario of DDH associated with concurrent contralateral Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease. A 5-year-old Saudi male patient, known case of developmental dysplasia of the right hip, which was managed operatively at a different hospital, presented in our outpatients clinic for right hip dysplasia and was found incidentally as having a limping gait due to left hip limited range of motion, following clinical assessment, pelvic radiographs demonstrated presence of subluxation at the right hip in addition to sclerosis, and irregularity of the left femoral head epiphysis. Right pelvic Dega osteotomy, femoral derotation osteotomy, varus osteotomy, and left hip arthrogram was examined under anesthesia with the positioning of the left hip at 45 degrees of abduction and 30 degrees of flexion to achieve the best coverage. Hip spica application was performed to correct DDH of the right hip. Repeated radiography at the subsequent visits showed better coverage of the femoral head on the right side. During a routine follow-up, there were also some osteonecrotic changes of the left femoral head that confirmed the diagnosis of left Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease.