Aim: Study of the anatomy of the fetal hip joint in 115 pregnancies between 13. to 40.th weeks of gestation by ultrasound.
Method: Sonoanatomy was studied by high resolution ultrasound (Acuson 128). For investigation of vascular supply of the fetal hip, colour-coded Doppler sonography was performed. In-vivo studies on vascular supply were correlated with histological sections of 34 fetal hip specimens, according to the conceptional age of 13-35 weeks.
Results: Vascular studies of the proximal end of the human femur showed a supply by the lateral and medial femoral circumflex arteries branched from the femoral artery or the deep femoral artery. After 22 weeks of gestation the acetabular artery supplied by the obturator artery was visible by means of Doppler sonography. At the end of pregnancy, large numbers of intraosseous blood vessels are demonstrable within the femoral head and neck.
Conclusion: The basic arterial pattern of the hip joint is established at birth. Proximal end of the growing femur, acetabulum, os ilium and labrum acetabulare are clearly visible by ultrasound.