THE ROLE OF HIP ARTHROSCOPY IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF HIP DISEASE

Injuries to the hip are commonly encountered by orthopedic surgeons an d will, for the most part, respond well to conservative therapy, When a patient's hip pain has not responded to the appropriate treatment an d radiographic measurements have not shown any specific pathology, art hroscopy of the hip can be a valuable diagnostic and therapeutic proce dure. We retrospectively reviewed 93 consecutive patients who experien ced refractory hip pain that persisted longer than 6 months (average: 2.1 years) and who had an average follow up of 2.5 years. Statistical analysis was performed using Fisher's Exact Test (P value) and Pearson (r value) correlation coefficient to compare preoperative symptomatol ogy and physical examination findings with intraoperative pathology St atistically significant results were obtained when comparing preoperat ive symptoms of a painful hip click and mechanical symptoms of locking with acetabular labral injuries (P=.000, r=.896) and loose bodies (P= .000, r=.896), respectively, Radiologic studies were nondiagnostic in 76% of patients in this series, Hip arthroscopy can be a valuable and viable procedure in the diagnosis and treatment of protracted or progr essive hip pain lasting more than 6 months.