CHEILECTOMY OF THE HIP BY A MINI-ANTERIOR APPROACH FOR FEMOROACETABULAR IMPINGEMENT: AN OLD TREATMENT BY A NEW SURGICAL APPROACH

Abstract

Introduction: Abnormal hip morphology, seen with conditions such as slipped capital femoral epiphyses and femoral head necrosis, can lead to repetitive contact between the femoral neck and the acetabular rim. Impingement is a significant cause of hip pain in young adults and may be a mechanism for the development of early osteoarthritis. The senior surgeon has modified a technique to debride the pathology responsible for femoroacetabular impingement through a mini anterior approach, obviating the need to dislocate the hip. We describe this technique and present early clinical outcomes.

Method: Between Jan 2006 and June 2008, ‘notchplasty’ for the surgical treatment of femoroacetabular impingement was performed by the senior author (AHN) or directly under his supervision in 38 hips. There were 17 male patients and 21 female patients with an average age of 31 years. Patients have been followed according to a prospective protocol with Oxford and Iowa hip scores obtained pre-operatively, at 3 months and at 1 year.

Results: This study is still in progress. Twenty nine patients have had 3 month follow up and 13 of these have now been followed up to one year. Four patients are still less than 3 months post op. Data was unobtainable for 5 patients. 1 patient was excluded from the study.

The overall Oxford hip score improved significantly from a mean pre-operative value of 35 to a mean post operative value of 22.9 at 3 months (p< 0.001).

The mean score at 1 year increased slightly to 27.3 points but this remains lower than the pre operative average.

We report no cases of osteonecrosis. One patient has since been scheduled to undergo resurfacing arthroplasty.

Conclusions: The technique described is a new method for managing these patients whilst avoiding the pit-falls of current operative methods. The method avoids detaching the straight head of rectus, thereby tremendously improving postoperative mobilisation. However, the long term benefit of debridement of the head-neck junction for Cam-type femoroacetabular impingement remains to be seen.