Editorial Commentary: Iliopsoas Tenotomy for Pain After Total Hip: A Great Operation IF the Diagnosis Is Right

Iliopsoas tendon pain can be a frustrating condition for both patients and surgeons after total hip arthroplasty. It is difficult to diagnose definitively, as there is no imaging modality that offers reliable information and there are numerous causes of persistent groin pain in this patient population. The pain can ruin the results of an otherwise well-functioning total hip arthroplasty. Patients who respond best to arthroscopic iliopsoas tenotomy are those with isolated pain with hip flexion activities and reproducible pain with resisted hip flexion on examination or other provocative iliopsoas maneuvers. Patients with these symptoms in addition to more generalized pain findings (pain with weight-bearing, pain at night, pain with passive range of motion) tend not to respond as favorably to isolated iliopsoas tenotomy. In addition, optimal treatment for refractory cases has been controversial historically, as both acetabular component revision and iliopsoas tendon lengthening have been advocated. With the ever-increasing popularity of hip arthroscopy and recent clinical outcome reports, arthroscopic (or endoscopic) iliopsoas tenotomy has proven to be a very safe and effective treatment option for these patients, with one caveat: the diagnosis must be correct.