Hip Dysplasia: Where Are We Now and How Do We Treat?

Hip dysplasia is a common cause of hindlimb lameness in the dog and is a disease with which the veterinary practitioner is faced on a regular basis. The spectrum of clinical signs varies from asymptomatic to debilitating osteoarthritis and severe lameness. The goal of this issue is to present a comprehensive yet concise review of hip dysplasia from etiopathogenesis to treatment, highlighting the latest developments and treatment options available to the veterinary practitioner. The etiopathogenesis and hip dysplasia screening articles detail the work that has been done to determine the heritability of the disease and develop programs to decrease the incidence of the disease in the canine population. The disease is, however, still quite prevalent, and not much has changed with regard to clinical signs and presentation. The field of physical rehabilitation for dogs has grown by leaps and bounds in the last 15 to 20 years. In addition, there are many more pharmacologic options for managing the pain associated with osteoarthritis in the dysplastic pet. The conservative management and physical rehabilitation articles highlight pharmacologic options and many of the modalities, both passive and active, currently available for the nonsurgical management of hip dysplasia. They also highlight emerging treatment options such as stem cell therapy. The latter articles in this issue focus on many surgical options for the treatment of dogs with hip dysplasia. Some of these procedures have been around for many years but have been improved upon to diminish complications (eg, there have been many modifications to the original total hip replacement system, the BioMedtrix Total Hip Replacement System, to improve implant stability and decrease complications). There are other historical surgical procedures that have been described to treat hip dysplasia (eg, muscle sling procedures, intertrochanteric femoral osteotomy) that have fallen out of favor in lieu of newer techniques with more predictable outcomes. However, we would be remiss if we did not acknowledge the contributions of these pioneers.

This is our first foray as editors, and we are grateful for this opportunity. We would like to thank the group of authors who have contributed to this issue, and we hope that it will sit prominently on your library shelves and serve as a ready reference.