Hip dysplasia susceptibility in dogs may be underreported, according to comparative study

Canine Hip Dysplasia (CHD) is a genetic disease that is common in many large dog breeds in which the hip joint is deformed, leading to pain and difficulty walking. For generations upon generations this disease has been impossible to eliminate. This article explains a study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania Hip Improvement Program of a diagnosis method different from the conventional method of x-raying the dog in the ventrodorsal hip-extended view. The study suggests that a method in which a measurement of the distraction index(DI), the distance from the femoral head (the ball of the ball and socket joint) to the center of the acetabulum (the socket) divided by the radius, is taken from a different radiologic view. Joint laxity, or joint instability, is quantified by this measurement. The higher the DI of a dog, the more joint laxity, thus the more likely it is to develop CHD. The greatest benefit of the method over the other is that the measurements can be taken as young as 16 weeks into a dogs life, unlike the more common method of examination that may not indicate CHD development until the dog is several years old. This would finally be a step in the right direction for potentially elimating the disease, since breeders could diagnosis the puppies early on, making sure they are not bred and pass the gene on further.

I found that this study has been considered for possibly using this alternative method in humans also, since dog's with CHD provide excellent models of humans with hip osteoarthritis.

I have a 4 year old labrador retriever, who was just recently diagnosed with CHD from a ventrodorsal hip-extended x-ray view. I have been reading up on the disease and treatments, so when I found this article I thought it was especially interesting.

I originally found an article on the topic from the link:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1410725/ called "Canine and genetic assessments of hip joint laxity in the Boykin spaniel" but I found a much more interesting article from the next link:

physorg.com/news202642643.html