The lateral view has the patient lying supine in a frog-leg position the patient’s knees are flexed, with their hip abducted and externally rotated. The patient is either standing or supine, and usually, have both legs internally rotated so as not to obscure the femoral neck length. The AP view obtains a view of the whole pelvis, usually from the femoral shaft to above the ilium. There are two standard projections produced when a hip X-ray is performed:

You might also be interested in our premium collection of 1,000+ ready-made OSCE Stations, including a range of radiology interpretation stations ✨ Views If previous radiographs are available, these should also be reviewed to provide a point of reference. Patient details (name, date of birth, unique identification number).Confirm detailsīegin by confirming you have the correct patient and the correct radiograph by assessing the following: Consider abnormalities in the broader clinical context of the specific patientįor the purpose of this article, we will concentrate on a systematic approach to interpreting hip X-rays with an antero-posterior (AP) view, which is the commonest and most likely to be presented to you in an exam situation.Apply a systematic approach to interpretation.Some salient points to remember when interpreting any radiological scan include: It should be noted that projectional radiography has limitations and other imaging modalities such as MRI and CT should be considered if further evaluation is required. Hip X-rays are a frequently requested radiological investigation and the ability to interpret them is a key clinical skill.

Normal hip xray description