Capsular thinning on magnetic resonance arthrography is associated with intra-operative hip joint laxity in women. Journal of hip preservation surgery Packer, J. D., Foster, M. J., Riley, G. M., Stewart, R., Shibata, K. R., Richardson, M. L., Boutin, R. D., Safran, M. R. 2020; 7 (2): 298–304

Abstract

Hip microinstability is a recognized cause of hip pain in young patients. Intra-operative evaluation is used to confirm the diagnosis, but limited data exist associating magnetic resonance arthrography (MRA) findings with hip microinstability. To determine if a difference exists in the thickness of the anterior joint capsule and/or the width of the anterior joint recess on MRA in hip arthroscopy patients with and without an intra-operative diagnosis of hip laxity. Sixty-two hip arthroscopy patients were included in the study. Two musculoskeletal radiologists blinded to surgical results reviewed the MRAs for two previously described findings: (i) anterior joint capsule thinning; (ii) widening of the anterior joint recess distal to the zona orbicularis. Operative reports were reviewed for the diagnosis of joint laxity. In all patients with and without intra-operative laxity, there were no significant differences with either MRA measurement. However, twenty-six of 27 patients with intra-operative laxity were women compared with 11 of 35 patients without laxity (P<0.001). In subgroup analysis of women, the intra-operative laxity group had a higher rate of capsular thinning compared with the non-laxity group (85% versus 45%; P=0.01). A 82% of women with capsular thinning also had intra-operative laxity, compared with 40% without capsular thinning (P=0.01). There were no differences regarding the width of the anterior joint recess. In this study, there was an association between capsular thinning and intra-operative laxity in female patients. Measuring anterior capsule thickness on a pre-operative MRA may be useful for the diagnosis of hip microinstability.

View details for DOI 10.1093/jhps/hnaa018

View details for PubMedID 33163215