Hip series

The hip series is comprised of an anteroposterior (AP) and lateral radiograph of the hip joint. The series is requested for a myriad of reasons from trauma to atraumatic hip pain.

Indications

Hip radiographs are performed for a variety of indications including :

• trauma
• hip pain
• abnormal gait
• inability to weight bear
• arthropathy 
• knee pain

Projections

Standard projections

• AP view
  • demonstrates the hip joint in the AP plane, with the limb internally rotated so the neck of the femur is in profile
  • often only performed in follow up studies
• lateral view
  • standard rolled lateral view demonstrating the femoral neck and acetabular rim can only be performed on non-trauma patients 

Modified trauma projections

• horizontal beam lateral view
  • lateral projection demonstrating the neck of the femur without movement of the affected limb 
  • can only be conducted on unilateral hip trauma
• Clements-Nakayama view 
  • lateral projection demonstrating the neck of the femur without movement of the either limb 
  • the ideal projection for bilateral hip or femur trauma

Additional projections

• Dunn view
  • lataral projection to aid and diagnose femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) due to its increased sensitivity for detecting femoral head-neck asphericity.
• frog leg view
  • bilateral examination allows for better visualization of the hip joints and femoral neck.  It is almost exclusively used in the pediatric population to assess for slipped upper femoral epiphysis (SUFE) and Perthes disease.