Hip preservation surgery: surgical care for femoroacetabular impingement and the possibility of preventing hip osteoarthritis

Despite its widespread usage, the hip preservation surgery can be most accurately described as a hypothesis that surgery can preserve a hip and prevent the need for arthroplasty. This premise has not been fully investigated to date, and there exist few summaries of the underlying evidence in regard to the basis of this terminology. This study seeks to define the hip preservation surgery, and then examines this premise critically in the context of treatment for its most commonly treated condition—femoroacetabular impingement. Finally, we report the current level of preservation of the hip that can be expected with current techniques.