Allograft reconstruction of acetabular labrum has comparable outcomes to labral refixation

The acetabular labrum plays an important role in hip stability, intra-articular fluid pressurization and force distribution. For irreparable labral pathology, labral reconstruction is an increasingly adopted technique shown to decrease hip pain and improve function. We evaluated survivorship and clinical outcomes of allograft labral reconstruction using the mini-open anterior surgical approach. Twelve patients who underwent labral reconstruction using a semitendinosus tendon allograft (reconstruction group) were matched 1:3 based on age, gender, body mass index, year of surgery, preoperative Tönnis grade, previous hip surgery, residual hip pathology and extent of acetabular chondral lesion to a control group of 36 patients who underwent direct labral repair with anchors (refixation group). At a minimum follow-up of 2 years, patient-reported outcomes, radiological findings and failure rates were compared. The average age was 31.3 years (±13.6) for reconstruction and 34.7 (±10.2) for refixation. Both groups had similar preoperative symptomatic periods (P = 0.3), prevalence of residual hip pathology (P = 1.0) and prevalence of prior hip surgeries (P = 1.0). both groups had a significant improvement of modified Harris Hip scores and 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey physical scores. There was no statistically significant difference in conversion rates to total hip arthroplasty (25% versus 8.3%, P = 0.2); however, time to conversion was significantly longer in the reconstruction group (3.58 years ±1.04) compared to the refixation group (1.20 years± 0.93; P = 0.04). In conclusion, at a minimum of 2 years of follow-up, mini-open labrum reconstruction for severe insufficiency of acetabular labrum demonstrated comparable improvements in functional outcomes and significantly longer survivorship compared to labral refixation.