Hip Arthroscopy Complications Are Higher Than Expected

A case study on hip surgery, particularly hip arthroscopy, reveals that complications arising from the procedure is higher than previously reported.

Hip arthroscopy is a surgical technique used to view the internal structure of the hip joints. It is a minimally invasive procedure and doesn't require opening up the whole area.

The procedure has been around for a few decades and has been gaining popularity in the last ten years. It is used in the treatment of torn floating cartilage, torn surface cartilage, ACL reconstruction, and trimming damaged cartilage.

In hip arthroscopy, a small incision is made and a small camera called an arthroscope is inserted to view the inside of the hip joint. During the procedure the hip can be treated and cleaned up of any unwanted material.

Recovery from hip arthroscopy depends on the type of procedure that is performed. Generally it is an outpatient procedure and the patient can recover and return to close to normal activity within a week. There are cases where recovery takes a couple of months.

500 Hip Arthroscopy Cases Studied

Outcomes after surgery have always been difficult to determine. Now a new case study on more than 500 hip procedures highlights that complication rates may be even higher than previous reports, say researchers presenting at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Specialty Day in Chicago, IL.

"The overall complication rate after hip arthroscopy was 7.2 percent, which is higher than what has been previously reported in the literature at 1.5 percent," said lead author Christopher Larson, MD of the Minnesota Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Institute in Minneapolis. "Our multicenter study trial is one of the first to evaluate complication rates for all arthroscopic hip procedures using a grading scheme that evaluated the possibility of complications based on demographic and surgical data. Previous reports on complications were prior to new surgical techniques such as labral repair and treatment of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) or were not comprehensive."

Video: Hip Arthroscopy

Between January 2011 and April 2012, Larson and his team, evaluated 573 individuals (287 males, 286 females) with a mean age of 32.3 years who underwent hip arthroscopy (minimally invasive surgical procedure in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage of the interior of a joint is performed using an arthroscope) at three institutions. The diagnosis, demographic information and procedures were recorded, and a validated complications grading classification was used for all patients prospectively.

"The most common adverse event after surgery (22.7% of hips) was post-operative sensory disturbance in the leg and only persisted beyond six months in four hips and was considered a sequelae rather than a complication. There was no difference in complications between males vs. females, primary vs. revision, labral repair vs. debridement and BMI," said Larson. "We hope that our research helps to provide new insights into surgery complications and how to prevent them."

Quantum Day

23 March 2013

Hip Arthroscopy Complications Are Higher Than Expected