Outcomes of Hip Arthroscopy in Patients With Acetabular Cysts: A Multicenter Matched Controlled Study From the MASH...

Some studies have reported more severe chondral pathology and less successful hip arthroscopic outcomes in patients with acetabular subchondral cysts.

The purpose of this study was to report multicenter arthroscopic outcomes of patients with and without acetabular bone cysts. It was hypothesized that patients with acetabular cysts would demonstrate inferior outcomes at minimum 2-year follow-up compared with patients without acetabular cysts.

Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.

A multicenter matched-pair study was performed across 6 medical centers with data from a large prospectively collected database. Inclusion criteria were adult patients who had undergone primary unilateral hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS). The study group was defined by the presence of a superolateral acetabular subchondral cyst on preoperative imaging. A control group was matched on age; sex; body mass index (BMI); lateral center-edge angle (LCEA); alpha angle; arthroscopic treatments of femoroplasty, acetabuloplasty, and labral treatment (ie, repair, reconstruction, or debridement); Beck chondral grade; and minimum 2-year outcomes using visual analog scale (VAS) for pain, International Hip Outcome Tool-12 (iHOT-12), minimal clinically important difference (MCID), substantial clinical benefit (SCB), and Patient Acceptable Symptom State (PASS).

The study included 82 patients, of whom 41 composed the study group and 41 served as matched control patients. The study group had a mean age of 42.16 ± 11.26 years with 48.78% women and a mean BMI of 26.51 ± 4.31 kg/m². Mean LCEA was 33.55°± 6.30°, and mean alpha angle was 70.22°± 9.71°. Mean Beck chondral grade was 2.59 ± 1.27 in the study group and 2.70 ± 0.95 in the matched control group (P = .72). Two-year mean postoperative iHOT-12 scores for the study and control groups were 69.49 ± 24.51 and 73.24 ± 25.16, respectively (P = .38), whereas mean postoperative VAS scores for pain were 18.84 ± 18.17 and 20.74 ± 21.39, respectively (P = .70). The study group reached MCID in 82.93%, SCB in 58.54%, and PASS in 65.85% and were similar to those of the control group.

Patients undergoing arthroscopic surgery for FAIS with acetabular cysts had similarly successful outcomes as patients without acetabular cysts. Acetabular subchondral cysts may not be a contraindication to hip arthroscopy in patients with FAIS who would otherwise be indicated for this surgery.