Welcome to PennHIP
PennHIP is a not-for-profit program wholly owned and operated by the University of Pennsylvania. Our mission is to develop and apply evidence-based technology to direct appropriate breeding strategies aimed at reducing in frequency and severity the osteoarthritis of canine hip dysplasia.
PennHIP incorporates a new method for evaluating the integrity of the canine hip. It is accurate in puppies as young as 16 weeks of age. It has great potential to lower the frequency of CHD when used as a selection criterion.
New Breed Laxity Update!
The breed laxity statistics have been generated for February 2013. The statistics are available to all certified PennHIP veterinarians . Remember to login to gain access.
New Training Courses for 2013
Training courses for January (NAVC), February (WVC) and March (WSAVA) have just been confirmed. Click here for more information.
Switzerland and Germany -
Workshops are confirmed for April 18, 2013 in Bern Switzerland and April 20, 2013 in Frankfurt Germany.
Click here for more information.
New Publications
We have some recent publications that will likely be of interest.
Officially released in December is the new Veterinary Surgery: Small Animal two volume set (Tobias and Johnston eds) in which we have a comprehensive chapter on Pathogenesis, Diagnosis and Control of Canine Hip Dysplasia. The chapter covers research up to the present day and it is a "must read" for all PennHIP members and those having a genuine interest in canine hip dysplasia.
We also have two new manuscripts in the January 2012 issue of Veterinary Surgery. Here, for the first time we report on radiographic evidence demonstrating the chronology of CHD development in a cohort of dogs followed for life. In the second manuscript in the issue we investigate the unique hip joint phenotype of a chondrodystrophic breed, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Thanks to all PennHIP members for contributing case material for this latter publication.
Click here to jump to our Scientific Reports page for more information.
New Blog Topic about PennHIP vs OFA
Click here to visit the Animal Insides website where Dr. Matt Wright blogs about the recent PennHIP manuscript (PennHIP vs OFA) and the superiority of the PennHIP method.
PennHIP vs OFA
A new scientific paper has just been published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association entitled "Evaluation of the relationship between Orthopedic Foundation for Animals' hip joint scores and PennHIP distraction index values in dogs" (pg 532-541). This study shows that dogs judged as "normal" by the OFA can have clinically important passive hip joint laxity as determined by the PennHIP method. The results suggest that OFA scoring can underestimate susceptibility to osteoarthritis in dogs, which may impede progress in reducing or eliminating hip dysplasia through breeding.
Article: Click to here to read the abstract and to gain access to the full article.
Press Release: Click here to read the press release.
Video: Click here to view a short video featuring Dr. Smith explaining the results and their significance.
Bibliography: JAVMA, September 1, 2010, Vol. 237, No. 5, Pages 532-541
PennHIP Article
Jemima Harrison has written a non-technical article about the PennHIP technique. Ms. Harrison is a journalist and TV producer best known for making Pedigree Dogs Exposed, a British television documentary highlighting health and welfare problems in purebred dogs in the UK. Click here to read the article.
PennHIP Podcast
Dr. Smith was interviewed by Lisa Stahr, host of Special Pets, Special Needs. Gail talks about the PennHIP method and how it can predict the likelihood of getting Degenerative Joint Disease/Osteoarthritis later in life. To listen to the entire interview, click here to visit the Special Pets, Special Needs website or go on iTunes and search "Scouts House".
Submitting Digital Images
Digital radiographic images can be sent to PennHIP electronically. Click here for more information.
As a reminder, our new address is:
PennHIP
University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine
3800 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
USA
Please send all correspondence, radiographs, CD's to this address.