Surgical Treatment of Subchondral Bone Cysts of the Acetabulum With Calcium Phosphate Bone Substitute Material in Patients Without Advanced Arthritic Hips

Subchondral acetabular edema and cysts, as a consequence of degenerative changes of the hip, are associated with disability, pain, and worsened function in this joint. The arthroscopic treatment of intra-articular pathologies, such as femoroacetabular impingement syndrome and labral tears, when associated with those alterations, has been suggested to provide inferior outcomes to those in patients without subchondral changes. Yet, the direct treatment of subchondral pathology has been limited. Recently, a technique for insufflating bone substitute into the bone marrow lesions of the knee, Subchondroplasty (Zimmer Knee Creations, Exton, PA), has led to promising results. Subchondroplasty has raised attention as a possible minimally invasive procedure to treat cystic changes in the acetabulum in patients who are not yet candidates for hip replacement. We present the technique of acetabular Subchondroplasty, in which a bone substitute material is injected into subchondral acetabular cysts under fluoroscopic guidance. In this technique, hip arthroscopy is used in conjunction with fluoroscopic guidance to address intra-articular pathologies and assess for possible intra-articular extravasation of the injectable material.