The herniation pit is a radiological finding in the upper anterior part of the femoral neck, just distal to the articular surface, oval or round in shape. This lesion represents a herniation of synovium or other soft tissue into the bone, through a cortical defect. They are usually about 5mm in diameter.
According to some opinions the herniation pit is an incidental finding of no clinical significance. However, a growing body of opinion holds that their presence is associated with femoroacetabular impingement syndrome. A recent study set out to establish the correlation between the incidence of herniation pits and morphologies related to femoroacetabular impingement.
A systematic analysis of the Medline, Embase and Cochrane Library databases was carried out and estimates were made of the correlation between the incidence of herniation pits and morphologies related to femoroacetabular impingement, up to August 2019.
Seven studies comprising 7950 hips were included and an extensive statistical analysis was carried out.
The authors concluded that the incidence of herniation pits is strongly associated with the presence of femoroacetabular impingement-related morphology, particularly in asymptomatic patients and in those with cam-type morphology.
Source: “Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy”, October 2020