A major topic of discussion regarding young patients with femoroacetabular impingement syndrome who suffer from chronic hip pain and are ultimately treated by arthroscopy is the duration of preoperative symptoms. The prevailing view is that a long duration of symptoms, that is, pain and stiffness of the hip before the operation, particularly when it exceeds one year, leads to less good results after hip arthroscopy.
A new study examined the effect of the duration of preoperative symptoms in patients with symptoms related to femoroacetabular impingement who had been followed up for five years after the operation. The study included patients with femoroacetabular impingement between January 2012 and January 2014, with a minimum follow-up of five years. The patients were assessed using the hip rating scales Hip Outcome Score Activities of Daily Living, Hip Outcome Score - Sport subscale, Modified Harris Hip Score, the pain score and the satisfaction score postoperatively. The results were analysed by statistical methods. In total, 310 patients were included, with a mean age of 34.1 years ± 11.9.
The authors concluded that patients with symptoms related to femoroacetabular impingement lasting more than two years before hip arthroscopy had inferior results after the operation compared with patients with a shorter duration of symptoms.
Source: “Arthroscopy”, December 2019
