Failed Hip Arthroscopy Treatment Options

Hip arthroscopy generally yields favorable outcomes, both in the short and long term, in the treatment of FAI, but there is a group of patients who have residual or recurrent impingement symptoms. Residual FAI is the most common indication for revision hip arthroscopy. Other indications include residual or recurrent labral damage, new labral tears, cartilage lesions, gross instability, mircroinstability and adhesions.

A full clinical evaluation is essential to identify the cause of failure. Repeat MRI or CT imaging is essential to understand the cause of failure. Diagnostic hip joint injections may be needed for confirmation of pain generators prior to a surgical procedure, to ensure the hip is indeed the source of pain. Sources of pain outside of the hip joint must be considered and may include tendinitis, lumbar spine disease, and pelvic floor pain.

The diagnosis of the cause of failure will determine which procedures may be involved.

• Labral repair is indicated when the patient presents with pain and MRI evidence reveals the need for additional surgery to repair, augment or reconstruct the labrum with a graft.
• Bone and cartilage repair may be implicated in certain types of FAI when symptoms recur and there is evidence of bone and cartilage defects.

All revision surgery is based upon the source of the problems. Every patient is unique. Revision procedures are individualized for the patient’s needs. There is no one size fits all. Current available peer-reviewed information, most of which has been published by the clinicians at LALL Orthopedics ⁺, is that patients who undergo revision hip arthroscopy can achieve favorable outcomes when the source of the problem is identified, and the surgical procedures chosen are executed successfully.

Management of failed hip arthroscopy is a complex problem that should be addressed by the hip preservation experts at LALL Orthopedics ⁺. First-line management in diagnosed, recurrent hip pain always begins with conservative measures such as activity modification, focused physical therapy, cutting-edge regenerative measures such as platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and Stem-Cell injections. When indicated, after exhaustion of conservative measures, revision hip arthroscopy, with novel innovative surgical techniques directly developed by LALL Orthopedics ⁺, has been clinically proven to significantly improve patient-reported outcomes.

Revision arthroscopic hip surgery may involve re-shaping of the femoral head (femoroplasty) or socket (acetabuloplasty), revision labral repair, circumferential labral reconstruction, or labral augmentation. Persistent instability may require capsular plication, capsular reconstruction or augmentation, ligamentum teres reconstruction with internal brace. Cartilage injury may require marrow stimulation techniques such as microfracture or cartilage resurfacing.

Surgeons at LALL Orthopedics ⁺ utilize world-class expertise to perform portions, or all, of the above procedures during the same, one-time, minimally invasive surgical setting. Of note, many of the above procedures were developed in-part by our team of surgical experts and have been published in the peer-reviewed orthopedic literature, presented at national / international meetings, and taught to surgeons worldwide.