Today we are diagnosing hip conditions in young people earlier and more accurately than ever before; yet it is true that with all the resources at our command we not infrequently are wrong in our early diagnosis, and occasionally are forced to treat obscure hip conditions over a long period of time without a definite diagnosis.
Having been puzzled by several obscure cases of hip disease which we have admitted to the Shriners' Hospital during the last year, I wish to attempt to evaluate our diagnostic procedures and the results which they may be expected to yield.
The diagnostic methods at our command are the history, physical examination, roentgenographic examination, tuberculin and Wassermann reactions, and
studies on the blood, urine and feces. If there is a sinus a culture of the discharge can be taken. If there is not a sinus, the joint can be aspirated or explored, and the