Funding outcome

Hip dysplasia is a common problem where a baby's hip joint is not formed normally. If this is detected in the first 3 months of life, it can usually be treated successfully by a soft brace. If it is missed, the baby/child will likely need a series of surgeries or may develop hip arthritis early in adulthood. Some places use ultrasound scans to detect hip dysplasia, but these two-dimensional (2D) pictures of the 3D hip shape do not tell the whole story. With several years of practice we have learned to use 3D ultrasound to detect hip dysplasia. The scan takes 30 seconds per hip, and a computer can automatically make a diagnosis within 2 minutes. From our studies so far, we think it is very accurate, but we need to test this head-to-head with the best we have right now: a visit to an orthopedic surgeon where the surgeon talks to the family, examines the baby and looks at a 2D ultrasound scan. In this study we will do 3D ultrasound scans on every baby who comes to the clinic to be tested for hip dysplasia, for about 9 months, and re-check them with Xrays in 1 year. We will hide the 3D ultrasound scans from the surgeons. At the end, we will test how well the computer analyzing the 3D ultrasound scans guessed the diagnosis from the clinic and from Xrays. If it guesses well and does not miss any more patients than the clinic did, we plan to try to use 3D ultrasound to screen babies everywhere in Alberta, and eventually, everywhere in Canada. Someday a 30-second 3D ultrasound scan read by a computer could be done on every newborn at the same time as we count to make sure they have the right number of fingers and toes, so that we don't miss anyone with hip dysplasia. This will prevent the most common cause of hip arthritis. We want this project to succeed so that all of our babies can be as healthy as possible!