Minimum 5-Year Outcomes of Arthroscopic Hip Labral Reconstruction with Nested Matched-Pair Benchmarking Against a Labral Repair Control Group

OBJECTIVES: Labral reconstruction has demonstrated short-term benefit for the treatment of irreparable labral tears. Nonetheless, there is a scarcity of evidence for mid-term outcomes of this treatment. The purpose of our study was to report 5-year outcomes in patients who underwent segmental labral reconstruction. In addition, we compared 5-year outcomes of patients who underwent primary segmental labral reconstruction (PLRECON) with a matched-pair control group that underwent primary labral repair (PLREPAIR). We hypothesized that arthroscopic segmental reconstruction in the setting of irreparable labral tears would show improvement in patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and high patient satisfaction at minimum 5-year follow-up. Secondly, PLRECON would experience similar improvement in PROs at minimum 5-year follow-up when compared to a matched-pair PLREPAIR control group. METHODS: Data from February 2008 to April 2013 was retrospectively reviewed. Patients were included if they underwent hip arthroscopy for segmental labral reconstruction in the setting of irreparable labral tear and femoro-acetabular impingement (FAI), with minimum 5-year follow-up for modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS), Non-Arthritic Hip Score (NAHS), Hip Outcome Score-Sports Specific Subscale (HOS-SSS), and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain. Exclusion criteria were Tönnis osteoarthritis grade >1, prior hip conditions, or Workers’ Compensation claims. PLRECON were matched in a 1:3 ratio to a PLREPAIR group based on age ±5 years, gender, and body mass index (BMI) ±5 kg/m2. RESULTS: Twenty-eight patients were eligible for the study, of which 23 (82.14%) had minimum 5-year follow-up. We found significant improvement from preoperative to latest follow-up in all outcome measures recorded: 17.8-point increase in mHHS (P=0.002), 22-point increase in NAHS (P<0.001), 25.4-point increase in HOS-SSS (P=0.003), and a 2.9-point decrease in VAS pain ratings (P<0.001). Average patient satisfaction was 7.1 out of 10. In the nested matched-pair analysis, 17 PLRECON were matched to a control group of 51 PLREPAIR patients. PLRECON demonstrated comparable survivorship and comparable improvements in all PROs with the exception of patient satisfaction. CONCLUSION: Hip arthroscopy with segmental labral reconstruction resulted in significant improvement in PROs at minimum 5-year follow-up. PLRECON reached comparable functional outcomes when compared to a benchmark PLREPAIR control group, but demonstrated lower patient satisfaction at latest follow-up.