HIP PRESERVATION: AVOIDING OR DEFERRING ARTHROPLASTY

There are three major diagnoses that have been associated with early hip degeneration and subsequent hip replacement in young patients: FAI, hip dysplasia and hip osteonecrosis. I will focus mainly on the first two. Both conditions, if diagnosed early in the symptomatic patient, can be surgically treated in order to try to prevent further hip degeneration. But, what is the natural history of these disorders? Our recent paper published this year described the natural history of hip dysplasia in a group of patients with a contralateral THA. At an average of 20 years, 70% of hips that were diagnosed at Tonnis Grade 0, had progression in degenerative changes with 23% requiring a THA at 20 years. Once the hip degeneration progressed to Tonnis 1, then 60% of hips progressed and required a THA. This natural history study demonstrates that degeneration of a dysplastic hip will occur in over 2/3 of the hips despite the limitations of activity imposed by a contralateral THA. In this same study, we were unable to detect a significant difference in progression between FAI hips and those categorised as normal. FAI damage has been commonly considered to be “motion-induced” and as such, the limitations imposed by the THA, might have limited the progression in hip damage. Needless to say, progression was seen in about half of the hips at 10 years, but very few required a THA at final follow-up. We have recently presented data on a group of young asymptomatic teenagers with FAI. At 5 years of follow-up, the group of patients with limited ROM in flexion and internal rotation, cam deformity and increased alpha angles, depicting a more severe form of disease, showed MRI evidence of progression in hip damage and worst clinical scores than a control group. This data supports our initial impressions that FAI may truly lead to irreversible hip damage. Is surgery always the option? I indicate surgery when the patient is symptomatic and has a correctable structural problem that has failed non-operative management. The data suggests that few patients improve with physical therapy, but activity modification may be an option in patients with FAI as the hip damage is mainly activity related. This may not be the case with hip dysplasia. For hip dysplasia, my current recommendations are in the form of a periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) to correct the structural problem. The procedure leads to improvement in pain as it takes care of the 4 pain generators in the dysplastic hip: the labrum, cartilage, abductors, and resultant instability. The labrum and cartilage are off-loaded with the PAO, the instability is improved by providing containment and the abductor pain is improved by improving the hip mechanics by medializing the acetabulum. I perform a hip arthroscopy prior to the PAO in the majority to treat the labrum and to perform a head neck junction osteochondroplasty, if needed. Correction of the dysplasia to a more normal hip, will improve the outcome of these hips in the long-term. For FAI, arthroscopy has become the best option for management and today is considered the gold standard. A careful review of the imaging is important prior to surgical decision making as patient selection and surgical correction is key. Poor outcomes have been seen in patients with advanced degenerative changes (joint space narrowing, femoral head damage) or in patients with incomplete correction of the deformity. Open surgical correction is an option in cases where deformity precludes an arthroscopic treatment alone.