COMPLICATIONS IN HIP ARTHROSCOPY

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of complications in a series of consecutive cases of hip arthroscopy; to assess the progression of the sample through a learning curve; and to recognize the causes of complications in arthroscopic hip operations. Method: 150 consecutive cases that underwent hip arthroscopy between May 2004 and December 2008 were evaluated. The complications encountered were classified in three ways: organic system affected, severity and groups of 50 consecutive cases. The data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and Fisher's exact test. Results: We observed 15 complications in this study (10%): ten were neurological, two were osteoarticular, one was vascular-ischemic and two were cutaneous. In the classification of severity, three were classified as major, 12 as intermediate and none as minor. The incidence of complications over the course of the learning curve did not present any statistically significant difference (p = 0.16). Conclusions: Hip arthroscopy is a surgical procedure that involves low morbidity, but which presents complications in some cases. These complications are frequently neurological and transitory, and mainly occur because of joint traction. The complication rate did not decrease with progression of our sample.