Prevalence of acetabular labral tears and sublabral sulci: a cadaveric study

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence and location of acetabular labral tears and sublabral sulci in cadaveric hips.

Fifty hips of 25 embalmed cadavers with the mean age of 55 years (range, 18-85 years) were studied. All labral lesions were documented in their morphologic features, size and anatomic locations.

Thirty-eight labral tears were found in 33 (66%) of 50 hips with the mean length of 17 mm (range, 8-36 mm). Twenty-two (58%) tears were located in the anterosuperior quadrant and 13 (34%) tears were identified in the posterosuperior quadrant. Thirty-one (82%) tears were detachments of the labrum form the bony acetabulum. Eight sublabral sulci were seen bilaterally in 8 hips of 4 cadavers (16%). Of these, 4 (50%) were located anterosuperiorly, 2 (25%) anteroinferiorly and 2 (25%) posteroinferiorly.

The acetabular labral tears were common findings with a high prevalence. They were most commonly located in the anterosuperior quadrant of the acetabulum. Sublabral sulci are anatomic variants that can be found bilaterally in different quadrants of the hips.