Torsional deformities are increasingly recognized as an additional factor in young patients with hip pain resulting from pincer- and cam-deformities. For example decreased femoral torsion can worsen an anterior Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) conflict while an increased torsion can be beneficial with the same configuration. It is unknown how often torsional deformities are present in young patients presenting with hip pain that are eligible for joint preserving surgery. We questioned (1) what is the prevalence of a pathological femoral torsion in hips with FAI or hip dysplasia? (2) which hip disorders are associated with an abnormal torsion? An IRB-approved retrospective study of 463 consecutive symptomatic FAI patients (538 hips) and a MRI or CT scan on which femoral torsion could be measured was performed (‘study group'). Out of 915 MRI we excluded 377 hips. The study group was divided into 11 groups: Dysplasia (< 22° LCE), retroversion, anteverted hips, overcoverage (LCE angle 36–39°), severe overcoverage (LCE>39°), cam (>50° alpha angle), mixed FAI, varus- (<125° CCD angle), valgus- (>139° CCD), Perthes-hips and hips with no obvious pathology. The ‘control group' of normal hips consisted of 35 patients (35 hips) without radiographic signs of osteoarthritis or hip pain wich was used for a previous study. Femoral antetorsion was measured according to Tönnis et al. as the angle between the axis of the femoral neck and the posterior axis of the femoral condyles. Normal femoral torsion was defined by Tönnis et al. as angles 10–25° while decreased resp. increased torsion was defined as <5° and >25°. Statistical analysis was performed using analysis of variances (ANOVA).Introduction
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