Asymptomatic gluteal tendinosis does not influence outcome in arthroscopic treatment of femoroacetabular impingement syndrome

Abstract

Purpose: To compare outcomes after arthroscopy in FAIS patients with preoperative asymptomatic gluteal tendinosis (GT) to a control group with no gluteal tendinosis.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed using data from FAIS patients who had arthroscopy between 2016 and 2018. Asymptomatic GT was diagnosed using hip MRI without clinical symptoms. Patients with asymptomatic GT were 1:1 propensity-score matched to patients without GT. Patient-reported outcomes (HOS-ADL, iHOT-12, mHHS), VAS scores, radiographic measures, performed procedures, complications, and revision surgery were compared and analyzed for both groups.

Results: A total of 105 asymptomatic GT hips and 105 hips without GT were found using propensity-score matching. When compared to preoperative levels, both groups demonstrated significant improvements in PROs and VAS scores at the final follow-up. Besides, there were no significant differences in preoperative scores, final outcome scores, or score improvements between the groups. Patients in the GT group were significantly less likely to achieve the MCID for the VAS score (72.4% vs 83.8%, p = 0.045). However, there were no other differences in the rate of meeting the PASS and MCID between the study and the control groups.

Conclusion: It was demonstrated in this study that FAIS patients with asymptomatic gluteal tendinosis can expect to experience similar good short-term patients-reported outcomes as compared with patients without gluteal tendinosis.

Level of evidence: III.

Keywords: Asymptomatic gluteal tendinosis; Femoroacetabular impingement syndrome; Hip MRI; Hip arthroscopy; Patient-reported outcomes.