CASE REPORT M. Donnelly Æ H. Mullett Æ D. Moore Bilateral asymmetric traumatic hip dislocation in adolescence: a report of two cases and review of the literature Received: 13 October 2004 / Accepted: 29 December 2004 / Published online: 31 March 2005 Ó Springer-Verlag 2005 Abstract Traumatic bilateral asymmetric hip dislocation is an extremely uncommon injury and rarely seen in children. We report two such cases in adolescent females injured in separate accidents. One of these patients also suffered a left femoral shaft fracture, ipsilateral labral avulsion and contra-lateral acetabular fracture. We re- port our experience in the management of this complex injury pattern and review the pertinent literature on the subject. Keywords Traumatic asymmetric bilateral hip dislocation Luxation traumatique bilate´rale de hanche dans l’adolescence: deux cas cliniques avec revue de la littre´ature Re´ sume´ La luxation de hanche bilate´rale est une le´sion extreˆmement rare, spe´cialement chez l’enfant. Les au- teurs en rapportent 2 observations. Dans l’un des cas il existait une fracture diaphysaire du fe´mur, une avulsion du labrum et une fracture ace´ tabulaire controlate´ rale. Le traitement de ces le´sions complexes est rapporte´. Mots cle´s Luxation de hanche bilate´rale Introduction Bilateral traumatic hip dislocation is rare, comprising approximately 1.25% of all hip dislocations. Hip dislo- cation is usually seen following high velocity injury, with 62–93% occurring following road traffic accidents [8]. Less than 5% of all traumatic hip dislocations are reported to occur in the paediatric population, and of these, the majority are male [5]. Even less commonly encountered is asymmetric bilateral traumatic hip dislocation, with only 15 cases reported in the English literature to date. To our knowledge, this injury in a child has only been reported twice previously [7, 10]. We report two cases of traumatic asymmetric bilat- eral hip dislocation in children who were treated at our institution, with at least a 1-year follow-up, who were involved in separate road traffic accidents. In addition, one of the patients had an associated acetabular fracture and open contra-lateral femoral shaft fracture, a combination of injuries that has not been previously reported. Case report Case one A 12-year-old girl was an unrestrained back-seat pas- senger in a van that collided with a wall at high speed. She complained of severe bilateral hip pain and had obvious deformity of both lower limbs. Distal pulses and neurological examination were normal. Radiographs revealed a postero-superior dislocation of the left hip, and a right hip that was dislocated into the obturator foramen (Fig. 1). Closed reduction was performed under general anaesthetic, and the patient was treated in skin traction for 6 weeks. Seventeen months post injury, the patient complained of occasional pain in the right hip and had noted an occasional limp, particularly after sustained exertion. Examination at this time confirmed a mild reduction in internal rotation, external rotation and M. Donnelly (&) Æ H. Mullett Æ D. Moore Department of Trauma Orthopaedics, The Adelaide and Meath Hospital incorporating the National Children’s Hospital, Tallaght, Dublin 24, Ireland H. Mullett Æ D. Moore Our Ladies Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, Dublin 12, Ireland M. Donnelly Apt. 12, House 2, Linden Court, Grove Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland E-mail: mdonnelly@rcsi.ie Tel.: +353-87-6461458 Eur J Orthop Surg Traumatol (2005) 15: 166–169 DOI 10.1007/s00590-005-0230-1