Purpose of hip screening in infants

In fact, babies who have just been born need to go to the hospital for a detailed physical examination. Parents should pay great attention to this, especially some newborn screening examinations. In this way, they can know whether their children are healthy or have any diseases, so that they can receive early treatment. So let us understand the purpose of infant hip screening.

Main purpose:

The doctor can check the baby's leg length and hip joint movement to initially screen the development of the hip joint. Hip ultrasound and X-ray examinations can accurately determine the condition of the hip joint. In the absence of special injuries or diseases, babies whose hip joints develop normally after birth will not have problems with abnormal hip joint development. Of course, early B-ultrasound examination is more accurate. When your child is older, an X-ray may be done.

The World Health Organization divides birth defect prevention measures into three levels: Primary prevention: premarital examinations, pre-pregnancy care, and genetic counseling, which help prospective parents choose the best age and timing for childbearing, can effectively prevent about 50% of serious birth defects and is recognized as the most active, effective, safe and economical prevention method. However, most diseases are recessive and without an abnormal family history, it is difficult to provide preventive measures for healthy couples of childbearing age. Secondary prevention: prenatal screening and prenatal diagnosis, timely detection of severe intrauterine birth defects and artificial termination of pregnancy to reduce the birth of defective children. Level 3 prevention: Conduct newborn genetic disease screening, mainly for large molecule diseases, small molecule diseases, etc., to detect and treat children with birth defects early and try to improve their prognosis.

Genetic metabolic diseases are mainly divided into: chromosomal diseases, macromolecular diseases, and small molecule diseases. Chromosomal diseases include: Prader-Willi syndrome, Angelman syndrome, Digeorge syndrome, etc. Macromolecular diseases include: Fabry disease, Gaucher disease, Pompe disease, MPS I, etc. The incidence of these diseases is relatively high, and biochemical methods are required for enzyme activity detection. This method is difficult and has high detection costs. Currently, only a few institutions in China, such as Beijing Zhongke Medical Laboratory, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, and Shanghai Xinhua Hospital, can perform detection. Small molecule diseases include organic acid, amino acid, and fatty acid metabolic diseases, which are mostly detected by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), which is easy to detect and has relatively low testing costs.

Beijing has started free newborn birth defect screening for five congenital diseases (hearing impairment, congenital heart disease, congenital hip dislocation, congenital hypothyroidism, and phenylketonuria).

Phenylketonuria is a disease caused by the lack of phenylalanine hydroxylase in the body, which makes it impossible for the body to metabolize phenylalanine. In this way, phenylalanine will accumulate in the body, causing damage to human organs, especially the brain, seriously affecting the child's intelligence. If it can be discovered early and low-phenylalanine milk powder is used to replace regular infant milk powder or breast milk, the accumulation of phenylalanine in the body can be avoided, thereby preventing brain damage.

The above article introduces in detail some of the purposes of infant hip joint screening. I believe everyone has a relatively preliminary understanding, so in daily life, if any abnormalities occur, you can go to the hospital in time for relevant treatment.