Thirty-two paralytic hips in seventeen children with myelomeningocele
and a neural deficit at the fourth lumbar level were treated with iliopsoas
transfers. Four to fourteen years later, all of the hips were reduced and
nineteen had a center-edge angle of more than 25 degrees. This result was
more consistent in the hips of the ten patients who had had a combined
varus osteotomy and transfer. All but three of the transferred muscles were
active: twenty-one had abduction and fifteen had extension against gravity.
We concluded that the procedure has value, but that it does not produce a
normal hip.