Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jun 6, 2021; 9(16): 3979-3987
Published online Jun 6, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i16.3979
Old unreduced obturator dislocation of the hip: A case report
Wen-Zhao Li, Jun-Jie Wang, Jiang-Dong Ni, De-Ye Song, Mu-Liang Ding, Jun Huang, Guang-Xu He
Wen-Zhao Li, Jun-Jie Wang, Jiang-Dong Ni, De-Ye Song, Mu-Liang Ding, Jun Huang, Guang-Xu He, Department of Orthopedics, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China
Author contributions: Li WZ, Ni JD, Song DY, and Wang JJ performed the surgery and wrote the paper; Li WZ, Ding ML and Huang J collected the information and followed the patient; Wang JJ and He GX revised the paper; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by The Grant of Xiangya Famous Doctors of Central South University, No. 201468.
Informed consent statement: The patient provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jun-Jie Wang, MD, Attending Doctor, Department of Orthopedics, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, No. 139 Renmin Street, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China. wangjunjie@csu.edu.cn
Received: January 10, 2021
Peer-review started: January 10, 2021
First decision: February 12, 2021
Revised: February 19, 2021
Accepted: March 9, 2021
Article in press: March 9, 2021
Published online: June 6, 2021
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Obturator dislocation is a rare type of hip dislocation, accounting for about 2%-5% of all hip dislocations. The occurrence of old unreduced obturator dislocation is even more infrequent, with only 17 cases reported in nine studies, most of which were from the 1950s to 1980s in developing countries.

CASE SUMMARY

A 38-year-old woman from Hunan Province, China presented with stiffness of the left hip in abduction, flexion, and external rotation after falling from a 2-meter-tall tree onto her left knee 1.5 mo prior. Pelvic radiograph and computed tomography revealed obturator dislocation of the left hip accompanied by impaction fracture at the superolateral aspect of the left femoral head without associated acetabulum fracture. Open reduction was performed, resulting in restoration of the concentric alignment of the left hip. After surgery, 6-wk skin traction was applied and the patient was kept in bed for an additional 2 wk. At 3 mo after surgery, the patient reported experiencing some pain, which did not affect the function of the affected limb, and some movement restriction but no abduction deformity or claudication was present. An X-ray showed that the left hip was homocentric, and there was no sign of posttraumatic arthritis or avascular necrosis.

CONCLUSION

Open reduction may be an effective treatment strategy for the rare condition of old unreduced obturator dislocation with short neglect time.

Keywords: Hip dislocation, Obturator dislocation, Unreduced, Open reduction, Case report

Core Tip: Obturator dislocation is a rare type of hip dislocation, accounting for about 2%-5% of all hip dislocations, and there are even fewer cases of old unreduced obturator dislocations. We present a very rare case of old unreduced obturator dislocation treated by open reduction. The patient underwent open reduction via the Smith-Peterson approach rather than total hip arthroplasty because of her low income. At the 3 mo follow-up, the patient reported experiencing some pain, which did not affect function, and some movement restriction but no abduction deformity or claudication was present.