I know nothing about PennHIP OR OFA, but I thought I would post this here just to get some feedback. This was copied and pasted from an MSN group that I belong to:



What is PennHIP?

PennHIP (University of Pennsylvania Hip Improvement Program) is an organized collaborative effort consisting of the Veterinary School at the University of Pennsylvania (VHUP) and a worldwide network of nearly 1200 certified PennHIP-trained veterinarians from 24 countries. PennHIP's primary objective is to reduce the frequency and severity of hip dysplasia in all breeds of dogs. PennHIP is attempting to accomplish this goal through the implementation and widespread utilization of a new stress-radiographic technique (X-ray). Through the network of certified veterinarians implementing this technique, PennHIP is amassing a large scientific database on the etiology (cause), prediction and genetic basis of canine hip dysplasia (CHD).

The PennHIP method is a different way to assess, measure and interpret hip joint status. It consists of three separate radiographs: the distraction view, the compression view and the hip-extended view. The distraction view and compression view, developed by Dr. Smith, are used to obtain accurate and precise measurements of hip joint laxity and congruity, respectively. The hip-extended view is used to obtain supplementary information regarding the existence of DJD in the hip joint.

To summarize, PennHIP is composed of three major components

o A diagnostic radiographic technique
o A network of trained veterinarians
o A medical database for scientific analysis

Why use PennHIP?

A growing body of scientific information from multiple independent laboratories confirms that the PennHIP method surpasses other diagnostic methods in its ability to measure hip joint laxity and accurately predict the onset of DJD. The PennHIP method can be performed on dogs as young as sixteen weeks of age compared with two years using the standard technique. The data generated by PennHIP allows breeders to confidently identify the members of their breeding stock with the tightest hips and the best breeding potential. Pet owners are able to obtain an estimate of their dog's risk for developing DJD and, if necessary, make lifestyle adjustments for their dog to enhance the quality of their pet's life. The PennHIP interpretation will also permit breeders to assess the progress they are making with their breeding program.

PennHIP is performed only by certified individuals who have undergone training and have successfully demonstrated their expertise in performing the technique. In addition to the special radiographs developed by PennHIP, the method also incorporates the standard hip-extended view into the interpretation of hip joint integrity. Upon request, your PennHIP veterinarian can make a copy of the hip-extended radiograph for submission to the OFA at the time your dog has PennHIP radiography. You do not have to abandon the OFA view or schedule a separate appointment to have it done.

How was PennHIP developed?

In 1983, Dr. Gail Smith from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine began to research and develop a scientific method for the early diagnosis of CHD. Multiple scientific disciplines - including biomechanics, orthopedics, clinical medicine, radiology, epidemiology and population genetics - have been incorporated during the development of PennHIP. This research resulted in a diagnostic method capable of estimating the susceptibility for CHD in dogs as young as sixteen weeks of age.

In 1993, Dr. Smith established PennHIP, a cooperative scientific initiative, to serve as a multi-center clinical trial of the new hip dysplasia diagnostic technology. The program was successful and quickly grew beyond the capacity and purpose of a university research laboratory. Initially, the University of Pennsylvania licensed PennHIP to outside biotech companies in order to make the technology available for widespread public use and to allow Dr. Smith and his colleagues to continue their research at the School of Veterinary Medicine. PennHIP has recently been reacquired by the University of Pennsylvania and is now a not-for-profit organization.

What is the rationale behind PennHIP?
Through a sophisticated biomechanical study, it was found that the hip is loosest when positioned in a neutral or "standing" orientation (also called the stance-phase of weight bearing). It was reasoned that this point is also the optimal patient position for measuring maximal hip joint laxity on a radiograph. Ironically, the standard hip-extended method was found to put the hip in one of its tightest configurations.

Next, passive hip laxity was radiographically monitored in dogs as they matured. It was shown that 1) the radiographic measurement of passive hip joint laxity by the PennHIP method was accurate in dogs as young as sixteen weeks of age, and 2) hip laxity was the primary risk-factor to predict the development of DJD. Specifically, the looser the hip joint according to the PennHIP method, the greater the chance that it will develop DJD.

The PennHIP method also incorporates the hip-extended radiograph to evaluate for evidence of DJD.
What Happens to My Dog During a PennHIP Evaluation?
To obtain diagnostic radiographs, it is important that the patient and the surrounding musculature be completely relaxed. For the comfort and safety of the animal, this requires sedation and/or general anesthesia. Typically, three separate radiographs are made during an evaluation. The first is the compression view where the femurs are positioned in a neutral, stance-phase orientation and the femoral heads are pushed fully into the sockets. This helps show the true depth of the hip socket and gives an indication of the "fit" of the ball in the socket. The second radiograph is the distraction view. Again, the hips are positioned in a neutral orientation and a special positioning device is used to apply a harmless force to cause the hips to displace laterally. This position is the most accurate and sensitive for showing the degree of passive hip laxity. Passive hip laxity has been shown to be the primary risk factor associated with the development of DJD. A hip-extended view is also included for the sole purpose of examining for existing joint disease such as osteoarthritis. The PennHIP procedure has been safely performed on thousands of patients. How Old Must My Dog be to Have a PennHIP Radiograph?
PennHIP has studied the efficacy of this method from the eight weeks up to three years of age. The PennHIP method can be reliably performed on a dog as young as 16 weeks old. Passive hip laxity at 16 weeks correlates highly with later hip laxity. In other words, a dog's hip laxity at 16 weeks will be much the same at one year, two years or even three years. The accuracy of laxity measurements for German Shepherd Dogs less than 16 weeks of age is not high enough to be of clinical use. Other breeds require study to determine the earliest reliable age of evaluation.

The looser the joint, as determined by the PennHIP method, the greater is the chance that the hip will develop DJD. (The standard hip-extended method can actually mask true hip joint laxity). There are obvious advantages to screening dogs for hip joint laxity at 4 months of age (or six months, 1 year, etc.) as opposed to waiting until 2 years of age. The reliability of the PennHIP method slightly improves with age, with one year 1 year being marginally superior to 6 months, which in turn is marginally better than 4 months. For all dogs, we recommend when possible, to use the mean (average) of repeated evaluations to get a more reliable estimate of a dog's hip laxity status (phenotype).
Does This Procedure Require Sedation and/or Anesthesia?
To obtain diagnostic quality radiographs, the musculature around the hip joint must be completely relaxed. For the comfort and safety of the animal, this requires either heavy sedation or general anesthesia. The selection of the individual sedation/anesthesia protocol is left to your PennHIP veterinarian's discretion, so long as the dog is sufficiently sedated to obtain a diagnostic quality radiograph (and, of course, so long as the drugs and dosages used are safe). Is the PennHIP Procedure More Expensive Than the OFA Procedure?
The total fee for a PennHIP evaluation is determined by the veterinarian providing the service. It is important to remember that the total service includes sedation/anesthesia, 3 radiographs, office consultation and all charges associated with mailing and film evaluation. You will not find it necessary to write a separate check for evaluation fees or mailing of your dog's films. The film evaluation charge will be included in the total cost of a PennHIP evaluation.

Your PennHIP veterinarian will likely charge more for the analysis because it consists of 3 radiographs rather than one. (Also, he/she incurred costs of training, quality assurance testing and purchasing the necessary equipment, not to mention the lost wages of closing the practice for 1 - 3 days for the training seminar.)
Is It Possible to Hurt My Dog's Hips?
After many studies, both in the PennHIP laboratory and in independent laboratories, there is no evidence to suggest that the PennHIP procedure is any more harmful than the standard hip-extended procedure. Certainly, in dogs having extreme laxity and pain associated with hip dysplasia, any manipulation of the hip (e.g. OFA, PennHIP, routine physical examination) can potentially cause transient discomfort (1- 2 days). PennHIP is aware of only a handful of cases (from over 20,000 dogs) that have exhibited discomfort after the procedure. All such claims are followed up and no long-term pain or untoward effects have been observed. The OFA has issued a statement to breed clubs suggesting that the PennHIP method harms hips. There is absolutely no basis to this claim. How Does This Benefit Me as an Owner or Breeder of Dogs?
We have been able to demonstrate that the PennHIP method surpasses other diagnostic methods in its ability to accurately predict susceptibility to developing DJD. This finding has been corroborated recently by an independent laboratory. The PennHIP method can be performed on dogs as young as sixteen weeks of age compared with two years using the standard technique. The ability to receive an early estimate of a dog's hip integrity is important whether the dog's intended purpose will be for breeding, for working or as a family pet. The data amassed and analyzed by PennHIP will allow breeders to confidently identify the members of their breeding stock with the tightest hips. The PennHIP evaluation will also permit breeders to assess the progress they are making with their breeding program as they strive to reduce the amount of hip laxity in their dogs. Pet owners are able to assess their pet's risk of developing DJD. This enables them to make lifestyle adjustments for their dogs and, if necessary, to enhance the quality of their pet's life.

How does PennHIP differ from evaluation methods which use the hip-extended position?

PennHIP differs from other methods in some very fundamental and important ways:

Scientific Protocol
PennHIP was developed and tested following strict scientific protocol and the results of these studies have been, and continue to be, published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. More than a decade of research and analysis have produced a body of information in support of PennHIP's effectiveness. (As with all diagnostic tests, PennHIP's accuracy is not 100%, but in direct comparisons it is far superior to any other available diagnostic methods.) No other method, published or practiced, has similar compelling scientific support.

Objective Assessment
PennHIP's evaluation protocol quantitatively measures passive joint laxity. Based on the degree of laxity, the individual dog is ranked relative to other members of the same breed. This allows breeders to easily identify animals with tighter hips within each breed. Dogs with tighter hips are less likely to develop osteoarthritis (hip dysplasia). Note that the hip evaluation report is not issued in a subjective pass/fail framework.This approach was adopted because some breeds of dogs have few members with hips tight enough to be considered truly DJD non-susceptible. In such breeds, genetic progress can be made (while still maintaining adequate genetic diversity) simply by breeding dogs in the tighter half of the population. Of course, greater selection pressure equates to more rapid genetic change.

Patient Positioning
Because PennHIP is measuring maximal passive hip laxity, the position of the patient is very different from the hip-extended position. The legs are in a neutral or stance-phase position rather than the conventional hip-extended position. The hip-extended position has been used for more than 37 years to screen hips for either DJD, laxity or both. However, studies have indicated wide diagnostic variability among radiologists in interpreting this view. Further, through biomechanical testing, the hip-extended view was found to mask the underlying true joint laxity and through direct comparison, the predictive value for CHD was shown to be inferior to the PennHIP procedure.

Heritability
Heritability is an important statistic relating the variation of a trait attributable to additive genetic effects with the total phenotypic variation of the trait. In other words, heritability relates the genetic makeup of a disease or trait with what is actually expressed or observed outwardly. Heritability is expressed as a number between 0 and 1. The higher the heritability, the greater the rate of genetic change that can be derived from selection pressure. The accuracy of a diagnostic test to determine disease (in this case CHD), has profound impact on the value of the heritability statistic. Inaccuracy of a diagnostic test acts to lower the estimate of heritability.

The heritability of the diseased phenotype evaluated in the hip-extended view has not been studied in most breeds of dogs in the USA. PennHIP is working with many breed clubs with an interest in determining the heritability estimates for their particular breed. Estimates for the heritability of passive hip laxity (DI) drawn from analysis of full pedigrees for the breeds examined thus far have yielded high values (e.g. for German Shepherd Dogs, heritability = 0.48; Labrador retrievers, heritability = 0.60).

Estimates of heritability of the dysplastic phenotype subjectively scored from the conventional hip-extended radiograph are not available for most breeds of dogs in the USA. Only a few published reports in as many breeds of dogs exist worldwide. To our knowledge, the OFA has not published heritability estimates for the subjective OFA phenotype.

Quality Control
The PennHIP method is based on strict quality control. To take PennHIP radiographs, veterinarians must undergo a training and certification process to demonstrate competency. PennHIP films are critically evaluated and the veterinarians are asked to repeat the procedure if the films do not meet PennHIP's stringent standards. The data generated from PennHIP undergoes regular review and statistical analysis so that useful information, by breed, is available to judge progress toward reducing CHD.

Mandatory Film Submission
For optimal validity, it is mandatory that all hip radiographs by PennHIP veterinarians be submitted for analysis and inclusion in the PennHIP database. This policy eliminates the practice of "prescreening" radiographs and sending only the best hips for evaluation. This "prescreening" practice has been shown to result in a biased database containing a greater frequency of non-diseased hips than actually exists in the true population. Excluding the worst hips leads to a false impression that genetic progress is being made.

Is PennHIP Going to Replace Other Commercially Available Systems?

As technology advances, the veterinary professional community will offer and utilize improved methods of disease diagnosis. The dog breeding community will also endorse those methods that help them achieve their goals of reducing the frequency of hip dysplasia in dogs while maintaining other desirable traits and features. The PennHIP technology and research have been and will continue to be fully presented to the veterinary medical community for its review. PennHIP has been received enthusiastically as a major step toward reducing the frequency of CHD. We encourage and welcome continued scientific examination and comparison of PennHIP to any available or new methods of canine hip dysplasia diagnosis. We emphasize, however, that the forum to debate the relative scientific merits of competing technologies is the peer-reviewed scientific literature and not commercial pamphlets, press-releases to breed clubs for publication in breed-club magazines, or web sites.
Will AKC and Other Breed Registration Organizations "Recognize" PennHIP?
In 1996, the AKC board of directors announced plans to remove all health and genetic information from the official AKC registration and to include it along with PennHIP information in the newly conceived "Information and Health Database". We have recently learned (July 1998) that the AKC plans to re-energize this initiative. We anxiously await progress from the AKC on this very important issue. Meanwhile, we are currently working with other organizations, nationally and internationally to present the PennHIP technology and the positive impact it holds for reducing Canine Hip Dysplasia. The PennHIP method has been adopted by several countries and is gaining wide spread interest internationally. How Can I Get the Name of a PennHIP Veterinarian or Get Answers to Additional Questions?

To obtain the name of a veterinarian in your area who is trained and certified to perform the PennHIP procedure, follow the link to find a certified PennHIP veterinarian. If there is not a veterinarian near you presently, additional veterinarians are currently being trained throughout the country.
My vet has advised a surgical procedure to avoid the development of arthritis in my dog later in life based on the results of his PennHIP examination. Should I have my dog operated on?
Until appropriate randomized and controlled clinical trials are designed and conducted, it is premature to use the Distraction Index as an indication for hip surgery, either remedial or preventive. At present several different surgical procedures (Triple pelvic osteotomy, Juvenile symphysiodesis) have been advocated by some veterinary surgeons to prevent the development of arthritis (degenerative joint disease) later in life in dogs with excess joint laxity (loose hips). None of these procedures have undergone scientific clinical trials that have proven THEIR EFFICACY in preventing the onset or slowing the development of arthritis in dogs with hip dysplasia. Although WE ARE not fundamentally against the use of preventative surgical management of dogs with excessive hip laxity, WE FEEL THE WHOLESALE CLINICAL USE OF PURPORTEDLY PREVENTIVE SURGICAL PROCEDURES BEFORE ADEQUATE TESTING IS CONDUCTED, IS UNJUSTIFIED. WE ADVISE CAUTION! It may be that in the future when good evidence exists to support the efficacy of these procedures their use will be encouraged.

http://www.pennhip.org/PennHIPFAQ.html#WhatIs

Again, copied and pasted:


WHAT IS OFA?

OFA stands for Orthopedic Foundation for Animals. It is a “not for profit organization”, with the purpose to “provide a standardized evaluation for hip dysplasia and to serve as a data base for control of hip dysplasia through selective breeding.” In order to receive an OFA number, a dog has to be at least 24 months or older on the day of his X-rays. Younger dogs can be x-rayed and evaluated but cannot receive an OFA number. Many breeders do this as a potential early screening. Because of the difficult positioning of the rear legs, (they must be extended and pulled parallel), most dogs require sedation or anesthetic. Film identification is extremely important. Permanent film identification in the film emulsion is required for all radiographs. Upon completion of X-rays, the owner fills out an OFA application. The radiograph, signed application and fee are then submitted to OFA. OFA also recommends that a copy of a dog’s AKC registration be enclosed.

Once the x-rays are received by OFA the process first begins by screening the X-rays for correct positioning and technique. If acceptable, the X-rays are then evaluated by (3) board certified Veterinary radiologists and a consensus of their opinions is taken. “The hips are evaluated for subluxation, shallow acetabulum (socket), femoral head/neck remodeling, acetabular rim/edge changes and degenerative joint diseases.”

THE GRADING CATEGORIES ARE:
Excellent, good and fair……..all considered Normal and will receive OFA numbers.
Borderline….....Recommend a recheck in 6-8 months.
Mild, Moderate and severe…….Dysplastic.

As with CERF, in order for the OFA number to be on the dog’s AKC registration form, as of July 1, 1996, a dog must be either tattooed or micro-chipped at the time the X-rays are taken. This identification should be noted on the X-rays. OFA sends a quarterly report of OFA numbers to AKC.

The OFA number is similar to the CERF number, in that each element has a precise meaning. Using the number….. CO-1620E24M-T as an example……CO is the breed identifier (in this case for Collie); 1620 is the ascending numerical order of normal individuals assigned a breed registry number; E stands for Excellent; 24 is the age in months when the x-rays were taken; M is for the sex of the dog and T stands for tattoo. An OFA number is good for the entire lifetime of the dog, but OFA reserves the right to correct or revoke any number.

Of added interest, OFA is branching out into other areas of health, with the recent addition of a Canine Thyroid Registry and a registry for Congenital Heart Disease as of January1, 1996.

Further information on OFA may be obtained by writing or calling: OFA at 2300 E. Nifong Blvd, Columbia MO 65201-0418, telephone 1-573-442-0418; Also information may be obtained from The American Kennel Club, at 1-919-233-9767. Here is a link to the OFA Website.

Written by Gayle Kaye - from the April 1998 CCA Bulletin.
Reprinted with permission.

Copied and pasted, written by a Rottie owner:


You should not only get an OFA rating, but go for the PennHIP, too....and do it with your puppies!!! The PennHIP can be done much, much, much earlier, 16 weeks and can give one the option to get a young dog some much needed TPO surgery long before any arthritis sets in or osteophytes begin to form. OFA is limited and can only be done once the dog reaches the age of two, but PennHIP is really telling it like it is and capable of doing so from the get-go. One must know that even with OFA there is still a 50/50 chance that all will not be well by the time a dog is 4 or 5 years of age. I trust PennHIP and my soon to be 7 year old Rottweiler is proof of it. He is as sound as sound can be and still moves like a puppy and it is truly poetry in motion.



From the PennHIP website:


How Does This Benefit Me as an Owner or Breeder of Dogs?
We have been able to demonstrate that the PennHIP method surpasses other diagnostic methods in its ability to accurately predict susceptibility to developing DJD. This finding has been corroborated recently by an independent laboratory. The PennHIP method can be performed on dogs as young as sixteen weeks of age compared with two years using the standard technique. The ability to receive an early estimate of a dog's hip integrity is important whether the dog's intended purpose will be for breeding, for working or as a family pet. The data amassed and analyzed by PennHIP will allow breeders to confidently identify the members of their breeding stock with the tightest hips. The PennHIP evaluation will also permit breeders to assess the progress they are making with their breeding program as they strive to reduce the amount of hip laxity in their dogs. Pet owners are able to assess their pet's risk of developing DJD. This enables them to make lifestyle adjustments for their dogs and, if necessary, to enhance the quality of their pet's life.

http://www.pennhip.org/PennHIPFAQ.html#Benefit