Abstract
Introduction
Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) causes anterior hip pain, labral tears and damage to the articular cartilage leading to early osteoarthritis of the hip. Surgical hip dislocation and osteoplasty of the femoral neck and acetabular rim is a technique pioneered by the Bernese group for the treatment of FAI. We present and discuss our results of this technique.
Methods
Functional outcome was measured in hips with over 12 month follow-up using the Oxford hip and McCarthy non-arthritic hip scores pre- and post-operatively.
Results
From March 2003 to December 2005, 79 hips underwent surgical hip dislocation for treatment of FAI. Ten were skeletally immature and excluded. In 16 hips, grade 4 osteoarthritis was present in greater than 10 × 10mm regions after reshaping of the abnormal anatomy. In these cases, hip resurfacing was performed.
Of the 53 hips preserved (average age 37(17-65)), 35 had the labrum detached, debrided and reattached using bone anchors, 32 underwent recession of the acetabular rim at the site of impingement, 21 had chondral ‘carpet’ flaps debrided, 5 had removal of medial osteophytes, 7 had labral and/or bony cysts excised and grafted and 1 underwent an osteochondral graft. In 5 hips osteoarthritis progressed requiring hip resurfacing at an average of 8 months.
Oxford Hip Score improved from an average 32 (range 13-59) to 23 (12-45) and McCarthy hip score from 50 (19-76) to 63 (28-79) in the preserved hips at an average 20 months following surgery (range 12-38 months).
Conclusion
The early results of surgical hip dislocation are encouraging. The open procedure has distinct advantages compared to arthroscopy enabling a wider range of lesions to be treated. Careful patient selection is important in order to exclude patients with hip osteoarthritis. Long-term follow-up is required to see if this technique prevents the natural progression to osteoarthritis.
