Outcomes of hip arthroscopy for treatment of femoroacetabular impingement: a systematic review

Background Arthroscopic management of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) is an emerging technique. Traditionally FAI has been treated with open surgical dislocation, and more recently hip arthroscopy is becoming a tempting alternative. Methods We performed a systematic review of the literature to determine whether treatment with hip arthroscopy alone gives documented, reliable and prolonged relief of symptoms or alters the risk for degenerative changes. Computerized literature databases were queried for the years January 1950-February 2008 to identify articles of interest. We included studies in which FAI was a major or underlying diagnosis, hip arthroscopy was performed to treat the FAI, and there were reasonable data in terms of outcome measures before and after surgery. Results Short-term outcomes of FAI were uniformly successful in the investigated series. However, based on the systematic review it is premature to say that hip arthroscopy provides documented, reliable and prolonged relief for FAI. In addition, because of the lack of long-term data, it is unclear whether or not this technique alters the natural history of FAI. Conclusions Although hip arthroscopy seems to be a promising alternative to open surgical dislocation techniques, currently there is insufficient literature to support this modality as superior to open techniques.