Arthroscopic repair of detachment of the acetabular articular cartilage with fibrin glue

Hip International, Jan-Mar 2010
Alexandros Tzaveas and Richard Villar
Detachment of the articular cartilage of the acetabulum is a common finding at hip arthroscopy. The articular cartilage is macroscopically healthy but detached from the subchondral bone. Excision of such cartilage flaps is a common technique for this type of lesion. The authors, however, report a series of 19 consecutive patients in whom the detached articular cartilage was fixed to the subchondral bone using fibrin. The modified Harris hip score was used to assess pain and function. The improvement in pain and function was found to be statistically significant at six months and one year after the hip arthroscopy. No local or systemic adverse effects were observed. Three patients underwent a repeat hip arthroscopy for unrelated reasons. In each of them, the articular cartilage in the area that had been repaired with fibrin appeared stable and of normal appearance. The authors' results suggest that fibrin is a safe agent for correcting detachment of the articular cartilage of the acetabulum.