Association of clinical and radiographic signs of femoroacetabular impingement in the general population

Correlação entre intensidade da dor e incapacidade com as lesões intra-articulares em pacientes com síndrome do impacto femoroacetabular

Objective  To correlate radiographic alterations and lesions in intra-articular structures of the acetabulum with the intensity of pain and disability of patients diagnosed with femoroacetabular impingement syndrome.

Methods  A retrospective analysis of the preoperative data of 182 patients (190 hips) was performed. Clinical variables such as age, gender, the practice of physical activity, and radiographic variables, such as the Wiberg and alpha angles, were evaluated. Through an intraoperative video, the extent of the chondral and labial lesions was evaluated considering the clock-face method, the degree of joint involvement by the Outerbridge classification, and the presence of wave lesions. The variables were analyzed by linear regression, with the intensity of the pain assessed by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and functional disability measured by the Modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS).

Results  The mean age of the patients was of 38.5 ±  9.6 years, the mean intensity of the pain was of 7.8 ± 1.6, and the mean mHHS score was of 56.3 ±  12.7. In total, 61% of the sample were classified as Outerbridge III or IV, and 12.6% had wave lesions. There was a correlation between the male gender (r = 0.497) and lower intensity of the pain, and a correlation of age (r = -0.27), the male gender (r = 8.419) and physical activity with higher functional scores on the mHHS (r = 4.729).

Conclusion  There was no correlation of the radiographic and arthroscopic parameters of the present study and the intensity of pain and the disability of the patients. The male gender is related to lower intensity of pain, and higher functional ability is related to the male gender, lower age, and the practice of physical activity.

Level of Evidence IV.

Prevalence of asymptomatic femoroacetabular impingement in Turkey; cross sectional study

OBJECTIVES

Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) is one of the causes of hip pain in young-adult patients. The purpose of our study is to determine the prevalence of radiological FAI findings in asymptomatic population in Turkey.

METHODS

Trauma patients aged 18-65 years who applied to the emergency service between September 2015 and September 2016 were retrospectively evaluated for this study. After a preliminary study and power analysis, 2152 hips of the 1076 previously asymptomatic patients were evaluated radiologically with pelvis antero-posterior and frog-leg radiographs. On radiographs of these patients; alpha angle, lateral central edge angle (LCEA), Tönnis angle (TA) and collodiaphyseal angle were measured. Alpha angle values higher than 55° were noted as cam type FAI. TA values lower than 0° or LCEA values higher than 39° were noted as pincer type FAI. LCEA values lower than 25° or TA values higher than 10° were noted as acetabular dysplasia.

RESULTS

Mean age of 1076 patients (602 female, 474 male) was 42.1 ± 15.6 years. The assessment showed that 15.9% of the patients had cam type, 10.6% had pincer type, 3.1% had combined type FAI and 9.3% had findings of acetabular dysplasia. The prevalence of asymptomatic FAI is significantly more in males (46%) in comparison to females (17%) in Turkey.

CONCLUSION

Even though FAI is considered to be a pathology associated with hip osteoarthritis; it is very common in asymptomatic population. In this respect, our study showed that prevalence of radiological FAI findings in asymptomatic adult population was 29.6% in Turkey.