Blood flow to the immature hip: Ultrasonic measurements in pigs

Abstract

We quantitatively analyzed blood flow through the major arteries supplying the pig's femoral head during various hip positions and following ligation of various vessels in order to identify the vascular abnormalities which may be responsible for the development of avascular necrosis during the treatment of developmental dysplasia of the hip.

Our findings reveal that a decrease in total blood flow to the femoral head occurs when the hip is held in the frog leg position with ligation of the deep femoral artery and proximal ligation of the lateral femoral circumflex artery, and ligation of the deep femoral artery, together with the lateral femoral circumflex artery proximally. In contrast, neither distal ligation of the medial femoral circumflex artery nor lateral femoral circumflex artery alone nor holding the hip in the Lange position caused a statsitically significant decrease in total flow. We also observed a unique steal effect on total proximal femoral blood flow, with the hip held in the frog leg position. In 4 of 7 pigs, we found a reversal of flow in the medial femoral circumflex artery.