ORIGINAL CLINICAL ARTICLE Results of the Pavlik harness when treating Ortolani-positive hips: predictors of failure and arthrographic findings

Background Predictors of failure of the Pavlik harness in reducing and stabilizing an Ortolani-positive hip remain ‘unclear’. The purpose of this study is to investigate the success of the Pavlik harness when treating Ortolani-posi-tive hips, to look for predictors of failure of the harness and to analyze the arthrographic findings among these failures. Materials and methods The medical records of 39 con-secutive patients with an Ortolani-positive hip treated ini-tially with a Pavlik harness were reviewed. Data regarding birth order, problems during pregnancy, presentation at birth, delivery, family history of DDH, gender, side involved, bilaterality, onset of treatment, problems related to use of the harness, and time until the harness reduced and stabilized the hip or was abandoned because of