What Mid-term Patient-reported Outcome Measure Scores, Reoperations, and Complications Are Associated with Concurrent Hip Arthroscopy and Periacetabular Osteotomy to Treat Dysplasia with Associated Intraarticular Abnormalities?
Authors: Edelstein Adam I. , Nepple Jeffrey J. , Abu-Amer Wahid , Pascual-Garrido Cecilia , Goss Charles W. , Clohisy John C. 
Published: December 2020

Background

Periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) is a well-accepted treatment for acetabular dysplasia, but treatment success is not uniform. Concurrent hip arthroscopy has been proposed for select patients to address intraarticular abnormalities. The patient-reported outcomes, complications, and reoperations for concurrent arthroscopy and PAO to treat acetabular dysplasia remain unclear.

Questions/purposes

(1) What are the functional outcome scores among select patients treated with PAO plus concurrent hip arthroscopy at mid-term follow-up? (2) What factors are associated with conversion to THA or persistent symptoms (modified Harris hip score ≤ 70 or WOMAC pain subscore ≥ 10)? (3) What proportion of patients underwent further hip preservation surgery at mid-term follow-up? (4) What are the complications associated with the procedure?

Methods

Between November 2005 and December 2012, 78 patients (81 hips) who presented with symptomatic acetabular dysplasia—defined as a lateral center-edge angle less than 20° with hip pain for more than 3 months that interfered with daily function—had undergone unsuccessful nonsurgical treatment, had associated intraarticular abnormalities on MRI, and underwent combined hip arthroscopy and PAO. Eleven patients did not have minimum 4-year follow-up and were excluded, leaving 67 patients (70 hips) who met our inclusion criteria and had a mean follow-up duration of 6.5 ± 1.6 years. We retrospectively evaluated patient-reported outcomes at final follow-up using the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) activity score, the modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS), and the WOMAC pain subscore. Conversion to THA or persistent symptoms were considered clinical endpoints. Repeat surgical procedures were drawn from a prospectively maintained database, and major complications were graded according to the validated Clavien-Dindo classification (Grade III or IV). Student t-tests, chi-square tests, and Fisher exact tests identified the association of patient factors, radiographic measures, and surgical details with clinical endpoints. For patients who underwent bilateral procedures, only the first hip was included in our analyses.

Results

At final follow-up, the mean mHHS for all patients improved from a mean ± SD of 55 ± 19 points to 85 ± 17 points (p < 0.001), the UCLA activity score improved from 6.5 ± 2.7 points to 7.5 ± 2.2 points (p = 0.01), and the WOMAC pain score improved from 9.1 ± 4.3 points to 3.2 ± 3.9 points (p < 0.001). Three percent (2 of 67) of patients underwent subsequent THA, while 21% (15 of 70) of hips were persistently symptomatic, defined as mHHS less than or equal to 70 or WOMAC pain subscore greater than or equal to 10. Univariate analyses indicated that no patient demographics, preoperative or postoperative radiographic metrics, or intraoperative findings or procedures were associated with subsequent THA or symptomatic hips. Worse baseline mHHS and WOMAC pain scores were associated with subsequent THA or symptomatic hips. Seven percent (5 of 67) of patients underwent repeat hip preservation surgery for recurrent symptoms, and 4% (3 of 67) of patients had major complications (Clavien-Dindo Grade III or IV).

Conclusion

This study demonstrated that concurrent hip arthroscopy and PAO to treat symptomatic acetabular dysplasia (with intraarticular abnormalities) has good clinical outcomes at mid-term follow-up in many patients; however, persistent symptoms or conversion to THA affected almost a quarter of the sample. We noted an acceptable complication profile. Further study is needed to directly compare this approach to more traditional techniques that do not involve arthroscopy. We do not use isolated hip arthroscopy to treat symptomatic acetabular dysplasia.

Level of Evidence

Level IV, therapeutic study.