Pelvic osteotomies for hip dysplasia results can be variable and depend on the amount of preexisting arthritis. Delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC) is a technique designed to measure early arthritis, and could be used to select hips that would benefit from a joint-preserving reconstructive procedure. Our objective was to investigate the role of preoperative dGEMRIC in predicting the success of PAO in patients 40 and above. We hypothesized that patients who failed had lower preoperative dGEMRIC index compared to those who did not.

Following IRB approval, patients 40 or older who underwent PAO between 1990–2013 and had preoperative dGEMRIC scan and minimum follow-up of 4 years were identified. Patients with prior hip surgeries or any pathologies were removed leading to a total of 70 patients (Age: 44.2 ± 2.9 years old, BMI: 25.7 ± 4.5 Kg/m²). We only included the first hip undergoing PAO for those with bilateral PAO. Out of 70, 19 had failure defined by the need for total hip replacement or WOMAC pain score of 10 and above within 10 years after index PAO surgery. Articular cartilage was segmented on the 3D pre-operative dGEMRIC scan. The average thickness and dGEMRIC index across the whole articular surface were analyzed.

Failed hips had a lower dGEMRIC index by 115 ± 20 ms (P<0.001). All but one failed hips had a dGMERIC index of 400 or less (range: 313 – 479 ms), while all survived hips had a dGMERIC index of greater than 400 (range: 403 – 691 ms). Similar trends were observed when comparing the dGEMRIC index within the 6 subgroups (P<0.01). There were no differences in cartilage thickness (combined femoral head and acetabular cartilage) between the failed and survived hips (p>0.2).

Patients with a high dGMERIC index (indicating high GAG content) may have a higher chance of successful outcomes following PAO. Current efforts are underway to develop a multi-modal predictive model to evaluate risk of failure after PAO.

The gold standard treatment of hip dysplasia is a peri-acetabular osteotomy (PAO). Labral tears are seen in the majority of patients presenting with hip dysplasia and diagnosed using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The goal was to (1) evaluate utility/value of MRI in patients undergoing hip arthroscopy at time of PAO, and (2) determine whether MRI findings of labral pathology can predict outcome. A prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted at tertiary institutions, comparing patients with hip dysplasia treated with isolated PAO versus PAO with adjunct hip arthroscopy. This study was a subgroup analysis on 74 patients allocated to PAO and adjunct hip arthroscopy (age 26±8 years; 89.2% females). All patients underwent radiographic and MRI assessment using a 1.5-Tesla with or 3-Tesla MRI without arthrography to detect labral or cartilage pathology. Clinical outcome was assessed using international Hip Outcome Tool-33 (iHOT). 74% of patients (55/74) were pre-operatively diagnosed with a labral tear on MRI. Among these, 41 underwent labral treatment (74%); whilst among those without a labral tear on MRI, 42% underwent labral treatment (8/19). MRI had a high sensitivity (84%), but a low specificity (56%) for labral pathology (p=0.053). There was no difference in pre-operative (31.3±16.0 vs. 37.3±14.9; p=0.123) and post-operative iHOT (77.7±22.2 vs. 75.2±23.5; p=0.676) between patients with and without labral pathology on MRI. Value of MRI in the diagnostic work-up of a patient with hip dysplasia is limited. MRI had a high sensitivity (84%), but low specificity (44%) to identify labral pathology in patients with hip dysplasia. Consequently, standard clinical MRI had little value as a predictor of outcome with no differences in PROM scores between patients with and without a labral tear on MRI. Treatment of labral pathology in patients with hip dysplasia remains controversial. The results of this subgroup analysis of a prospective, multi-centre RCT do not show improved outcome among patients with dysplasia treated with labral repair

Objectives

The number of surgical procedures performed each year to treat femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) continues to rise. Although there is evidence that surgery can improve symptoms in the short-term, there is no evidence that it slows the development of osteoarthritis (OA). We performed a feasibility study to determine whether patient and surgeon opinion was permissive for a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) comparing operative with non-operative treatment for FAI.