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An evidence-based update on the management of articular cartilage defects in the hip
Karadi Hari Sunil Kumar1, Malgorzata Garner1, Vikas Khanduja1
1Young Adult Hip Service, Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Addenbrooke's - Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK.
Insights
Hip cartilage defects present surgical challenges. Treatments like debridement, microfracture, and autologous chondrocyte implantation show good short-term results, with newer techniques emerging.
Area of Science:
- Orthopedic surgery
- Regenerative medicine
- Sports medicine
Background:
- Articular cartilage defects in the hip are a significant surgical challenge.
- These defects are a key factor influencing the success of hip arthroscopy.
- Effective treatment strategies are crucial for patient outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the best available evidence on treatment options for hip articular cartilage defects.
- To synthesize current knowledge on surgical interventions for hip cartilage injuries.
Main Methods:
- Comprehensive literature search of PubMed (inception to October 2021).
- Search terms included 'hip', 'cartilage/chondral', and various treatment keywords.
- Inclusion criteria: original research studies (RCTs, cohort, case-control, comparative) on human hip cartilage defects with ≥5 patients; 35 articles selected from 1172 initial results.
Main Results:
- Debridement, microfracture, autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI), and matrix-induced ACI (MACI) demonstrate good short-to-medium term outcomes.
- Injectable ACI and MACI offer arthroscopic approaches with promising early results and reduced morbidity.
- Osteochondral grafts (autograft/allograft) may be necessary for defects involving subchondral bone; newer biological solutions are under investigation.
Conclusions:
- Accurate defect identification is key for treatment planning.
- Surgical techniques like ACI, AMIC, mosaicplasty, and microfracture show good short-to-medium term outcomes.
- Injectable MACI and bioscaffolds show promise but require longer-term evaluation; multi-center studies and registries are needed to fully assess techniques.
Objective:
Articular cartilage defects in the hip joint pose a significant surgical challenge and remain one of the most important determinants of success following arthroscopic intervention of the hip. The aim of this literature review was to report on the best available evidence on the various treatment options utilised for articular cartilage defects in the hip.
Material And Methods:
A comprehensive literature search was performed on PubMed from its inception to October 2021 using the following search strategy: ((hip) and (cartilage or chondral) and (repair or regeneration or restoration or implantation or chondroplasty or chondrogenic)). Two reviewers (KHSK, MG) independently reviewed titles and abstracts to identify articles for the final analysis. Articles were included if they were original research studies (randomised control trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, or comparative studies) on treatment of hip cartilage defects in humans reporting on a minimum of 5 patients. A total of 1172 articles were identified from the initial literature search. Following a thorough selection process, 35 articles were included in the final analysis to synthesise the evidence.
Results:
Debridement, microfracture, autologous chondocyte implanatation (ACI) and matrix-induced ACI (MACI) are shown to have good short-to medium-term results. Injectable ACI and MACI have been developed to enable these procedures to be performed via arthroscopic surgery to reduce the post-operative morbidity associated with surgery with promising early results. Large cartilage defects which involved the sub-chondral bone may need the use of osteochondral grafts either autograft or allograft. Newer biological solutions have been developed to potentially deliver a single-stage procedure for hip cartilage injuries but longer-term results are still awaited.
Conclusion:
Accurate identification of the extent of the injury helps stratify the defect and plan appropriate treatment. Several surgical techniques have shown good short to medium-term outcomes with ACI, AMIC, mosaicplasty and microfracture. Recent advances have enabled the use of injectable MACI and bioscaffolds which show promising results but in the shorter term. However, one needs to be mindful of the techniques which can be used in their surgical setting with the available resources. In order to thoroughly evaluate the benefits of the different surgical techniques for hip cartilage defects, large scale prospective multi-centre studies are necessary. Perhaps inclusion of such procedures in registries may also yield meaningful and pragmatic results.
