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. 2012;20(1):31-3.
doi: 10.1590/S1413-78522012000100006.

Radiographic assessment of hips in patients with spinal cord injury

Jean Grynwald  1 , Juliana de Melo Lafaiete Bastos  1 , Vinicius Basañez Aleluia Costa  1 , Carolina de Medeiros Rimkus  2 , Alberto Cliquet Júnior  1
Affiliations

Radiographic assessment of hips in patients with spinal cord injury

Jean Grynwald et al. Acta Ortop Bras. 2012.

Abstract

Objective: The spinal cord-injured patients begin to present a new configuration of forces on the joints. The hip joint is one of the most affected, because these patients generally use a wheelchair as a means of locomotion. Osteoarticular changes, such as heterotopic ossification, can be found in these patients, as evidenced by radiographic studies. This study aims to identify radiographic changes in hips of spinal cord-injured patients.

Methods: 15 patients (30 hips) were evaluated and followed up at the Laboratory of Biomechanical Rehabilitation of the Musculoskeletal System of HC-Unicamp, through the analysis of radiographs of the pelvis in anterior-posterior and Lowenstein lateral positions.

Results: Of the total hips, only seven (23%) had no evidence of articular damage. The prevalence of heterotopic ossification found (16.6%) was similar to the literature.

Conclusion: The radiographic assessment of these patient's hips is justified by the prevalence of joint changes found. Level of Evidence II, Development of diagnostic criteria in consecutive patients (with universally applied reference "gold" standard).

Keywords: Hip; Ossification, heterotopic; Radiograph; Spinal cord injuries; Spinal injury.

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Conflict of interest statement

All the authors declare that there is no potential conflict of interest referring to this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Degenerative alterations can be observed in both hips. Special emphasis on the presence of anterolateral cysts on both sides and increase of acetabular coverage in the left hip.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Heterotopic ossification (degree II) present in the enhanced periarticular region.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Note the exuberant periarticular heterotopic ossification in the right hip (degree III) and degenerative alterations in the left hip.
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