Abstract
Transient hip synovitis is one of the most common paediatric orthopaedic diseases.
This
non-controlled interventional study investigated the origin, clinical findings, imaging
and
the duration of symptoms. 146 affected patients out of the total of 27659 patients
under 18
years result in an incidence of 0.53%. 76.7% boys outweighed 23.3% girls (1.8–12.9
years
[Ø 6.3 y, boys Ø 6.5 y, girls Ø 6.2 y]). Diagnoses were defined by ultrasound and
the absence
of concurrent diseases. In 60.5% of patients, the right hip was affected, in 39.5%
the left. A
single patient had CF on both sides but not at the same time. No simultaneous incidence
was
recorded. There were two singular recurrences. Within the study period, we counted
11 cases of
Perthes’ disease, 2 juvenile hip arthritis and one septic hip. Patients’ history showed
41.0%
viral infections, 21.6% physical exertion and 15.1% singular trauma. In 22.3% no origin
could
be named. Clinical aspects included pain in inward rotation (51.5%), in hip flexion
(49.3%)
and limping (37.5%). Ultrasound depicted medium joint effusion in 53.4%, marked effusion
in
46.6% and synovial thickening in 17.1% of patients. 119 patients could be followed
up weekly.
Joint effusion vanished after 3–36 days (Ø 13.3 d), clinical symptoms Ø 1.6 days earlier.
Total duration in terms of sonographic appearance of effusion was 3 to 37 days
(Ø 19.1 d).
Keywords
transient arthritis of the hip - hip pain children - hip joint effusion - ultrasound
hip joint
