Do New York Patients Need a Second Surgery Years after Minimally Invasive Hip Surgery?

San Diego, CA—March 14, 2017

Where one has minimally invasive hip surgery – and with whom – may make a difference in whether a second surgery is needed.

Use of hip arthroscopy, a procedure in which doctors insert a small camera (arthroscope) through a tiny incision in order to study and repair damage to the hip joint, has increased rapidly over the past ten years. Studies have shown that patients who undergo this minimally invasive procedure endure less pain, have a shorter recovery time, and see lower rates of complications in the two years following surgery compared to patients undergoing open (large incisions to directly view the joint) hip surgery. However, there is not enough information on patients’ long-term quality of life following hip arthroscopy. In the long run, do patients end up coming back for another surgery years later?

Hospital for Special Surgery researchers looked at data from the State of New York, where over 8,250 hip arthroscopies were performed by almost 300 different surgeons at more than 130 surgical centers between 1998 and 2012. The results show that use of hip arthroscopy in New York rose 750 percent over the last ten years, with the 90-day complication rate of only 0.3 percent overall.  However, the rates of second (revision) hip surgery continue to rise along with the rate of hip arthroscopy. These higher rates of revision surgery were most common in patients over the age of 50 and in those with osteoarthritis. In addition, researchers found that having the procedure performed by higher volume surgeons and at higher volume centers reduced the risk of re-operation.

Abstract Title: Survivorship of Primary Hip Arthroscopy in New York State – A Population-Based Study

Authors: Ryan M. Degen, Ting J. Pan, Brenda Chang, Nabil Mehta, Peter D. Chamberlin, Danyal H. Nawabi, MD, Anil S. Ranawat, MD, Bryan T. Kelly, MD, Stephen Lyman, PhD