Background: The indication for hip arthrotomy accompanied by intraarticular work during periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) has not been precisely defined. To validate a role for routine hip arthrotomy accompanied by intraarticular work, frequent intraarticular pathology must exist, and the adjunct procedures must not be associated with inferior relief of pain, reduced function, radiographic osteoarthritis progression, or conversion to THA.
Questions/purposes: (1) What is the prevalence of intraarticular pathology at the time of PAO? (2) Does concomitant hip arthrotomy with associated intraarticular work negatively affect PAO as reflected by differences in Harris hip scores (HHS), Tönnis grade, and failure rates?
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the intraarticular findings in all 151 patients who underwent PAO accompanied by routine hip arthrotomy and intraarticular work from 2002 to 2009. Using multivariate regression models, we compared the HHS and Tönnis grades of patients receiving arthrotomy with a cohort of 39 patients who received PAO alone.
Results: The overall prevalence of intraarticular pathology identified during PAO was 89%. Eight (5.3%) failures were identified within the arthrotomy cohort with mean postoperative HHS, postoperative Tönnis grade, postoperative change in HHS, and postoperative change in Tönnis grade of 87.5, 0.7, 29.8, and 0.3, respectively. By contrast, seven (17.9%) failures were identified in the nonarthrotomy cohort. The mean postoperative HHS, postoperative Tönnis grade, postoperative change in HHS, and postoperative change in Tönnis grade for the nonarthrotomy cohort were 83.1, 1.3, 19.0, and 0.3, respectively.
Conclusions: We believe the high prevalence of intraarticular pathology is sufficient to warrant routine joint inspection at the time of PAO. Hip arthrotomy accompanied by intraarticular work at the time of PAO is safe and does not impose additional patient morbidity.
Level of evidence: Level III, prognostic study. See Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.