Does Labral Size Correlate With Degree of Acetabular Dysplasia?

BACKGROUND: Hip dysplasia has been shown to be a cause of early arthritis. The decrease in bony coverage has shown increased stress on the acetabular labrum as it shares an increased load. PURPOSE/HYPOTHESIS: The purpose of this study was to divide a cohort of patients by radiographic measures of dysplastic and nondysplastic hips for comparison with regard to labral size at 4 anatomic locations. The hypothesis was that dysplastic hips will have significantly larger labral size compared with nondysplastic hips. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted at a single institution. A total of 130 patients underwent hip arthroscopy during the study period from September 2011 to February 2012. Intraoperatively, arthroscopic measurements were taken at 4 quadrants on the acetabular clockface: anterosuperior (12-3 o’clock), anteroinferior (3-6 o’clock), posterosuperior (9-12 o’clock), and posteroinferior (6-9 o’clock). Three radiographic parameters for dysplasia were used to substratify the study population base: lateral center-edge angle (LCEA) ≤25° and LCEA >25°, acetabular inclination (AI) ≤10° and AI >10°, and anterior center-edge angle (ACEA) ≤20° and ACEA >20°. RESULTS: For the LCEA ≤25° group, there were 28 hips with mean LCEA of 20.96° ± 3.40°. Patients with LCEA ≤25° had larger labral width in all 4 quadrants (P < .05). For AI >10°, there were 12 hips with the mean AI 12.92° ± 2.50°. Patients with AI >10° had larger labral size in the posteroinferior quadrant only (P < .05). For ACEA ≤20°, there were 4 hips with a mean ACEA of 11.25° ± 5.19°. The anteroinferior and posteroinferior quadrants had a significant increase in labral size when substratified by ACEA ≤20° (P < .05). CONCLUSION: Labral size was significantly larger in dysplastic hips compared with nondysplastic hips. The posteroinferior quadrant labrum was larger in size in dysplastic hips, as measured by any of the 3 radiographic measurements of dysplasia. Hips with LCEA ≤25° had larger labra in all 4 quadrants.