Infant hip joint diagnostic support system based on clinical manifestations in X-ray images.

Plain X-ray radiography is frequently used for the diagnosis of developmental dislocation of the hip (DDH). The aim of this study was to construct a diagnostic support system for DDH based on clinical findings obtained from the X-ray images of 154 female infants with confirmed diagnoses made by orthopedists. The data for these subjects were divided into 2 groups. The Min-Max method of nonlinear analysis was applied to the data from Group 1 to construct the diagnostic support system based on the measurement of 4 items in X-ray images:the outward displacement rate, upward displacement rate, OE angle, and alpha angle. This system was then applied to the data from Group 2, and the results were compared between the 2 groups to verify the reliability of the system. We obtained good results that matched the confirmed diagnoses of orthopedists with an accuracy of 85.9%.