Abstract
Arthroscopic hip surgery is increasingly common in Australia. Hip arthroscopy is indicated for a range of diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, including labral tears, capsular laxity and femoral-acetabular impingement (FAI). Despite this, previous cohort studies aiming to characterise hip pathology seen on arthroscopic examination are mostly limited to patients with known diagnoses of FAI. Therefore, little is known of the native articular wear patterns encountered in other disease states. Therefore, we aimed to define common osteochondral wear patterns for a cohort of patients managed via hip arthroscopy.
We retrospectively analysed intraoperative data for 1127 patients managed via hip arthroscopy between 2008 and 2013, for either therapeutic or diagnostic purposes. Intraoperative data was categorized by location (A-E as defined by Fontana et al. 2016) and chondral damage (0-4 scale as defined by Beck et al. 2005) with respect to both acetabulum and femoral head.
Data for 1127 patients were included. Location of acetabular chondral pathology was variable with locations C1 and D1 representing the most common regions of damage. Labral tears predominated in locations C and D. Femoral chondral pathology was evenly distributed. The degree of femoral chondral injury was predominantly grade 1, whilst acetabular wear was evenly distributed.
Large proportions of wear were observed at the peripheral superior and anterior regions of the lunate surface of the acetabulum in keeping with prior works. However, we observed higher rates of central wear and lower rates of grade 4 acetabular damage extending into superior/posterior zones, in our cohort.
Our work characterises common articular wear patterns encountered at the time of hip arthroscopy. Further inquiry into the natural history of osteochondral lesions is needed to better understand and manage these conditions.
