The physician uses a hip ultrasound to assess whether your son's or daughter's hips are developing normally. The ultrasound exam is used to assess the development of your child's hips. A radiological ultrasound is performed using sound waves. This exam is entirely painless and harmless for your child. We perform the hip ultrasound on children up to the age of twelve months.
Why do I need this exam?
During a check-up at the child health care centre, the physician has discovered that your son or daughter has an elevated risk of a problem with the development of their hips (hip dysplasia). This can happen because hip dysplasia runs in your family, your child was in the breech position, your child has a stiff hip that cannot rotate outward easily or your child's legs are not even in length. The timely discovery and, if necessary, treatment of hip dysplasia contributes to the healthy development of your child's hips and prevents pain and locomotion difficulties later in life. An ultrasound exam is a safe and reliable way to assess the development of your child's hips at an early age.
What will we do?
The exam is performed and assessed by a (physician) sonographer who specialises in performing hip ultrasounds on small children. During the exam, your son or daughter will lie inside a special pillow. The (physician) sonographer will examine both hips with an ultrasound device. The exam is entirely painless and the pillow is comfortable. Nevertheless, children may become restless or start to cry during the exam. During the exam, you can sit beside your child and hold and comfort them.
Duration of the exam
The appointment will take circa 30 minutes in total. This includes the time it takes to review the images and discuss the results.
How soon can you see me?
We want to help you as quickly as possible, which is why we keep the waiting times short at Diagnostiek voor U. Take a look at the current overview of waiting times for the various exams or read more about our waiting times on this page.
The results
At the end of the appointment, you will receive the official results from the (physician) sonographer who performed the hip ultrasound. This result will also be sent to the physician of the child health care centre and your general practitioner. In most cases, the ultrasound will not show any abnormalities and you as a parent/guardian can rest easy. If any abnormalities do show up on the scan, you will be referred to a (child) orthopedist for further examination.
