The Tutankhamun Technique in Hip Arthroscopy

Hip arthroscopy has been increasing tremendously in the past decade and is a very common surgical procedure to repair femoroacetabular impingement. To access the hip joint, distraction is mandatory to treat intra-articular disorders such as labral tears, cartilage loose bodies, and ligamentum teres tears and to evaluate the condition of the femoral head and acetabular cartilage. To distract the hip, counterdistraction is needed, and this is achieved with placement of a bulky and cushioned perineal post. Most of the described techniques in hip arthroscopy use a perineal post, whereas others use beanbags to place the patient's body on the surgical table. Still others do not use a post at all but rather use gravity and a Trendelenburg position to achieve distraction. Our technique does not use a perineal post but instead uses heavy-duty tape over the patient's upper body, which is placed on a normal operating room table to distract the hip while entering the central compartment.