Autologous Membrane Induced Chondrogenesis (AMIC) for the treatment of acetabular chondral defect

Background: Acetabular chondral defect are very frequently associated to FAI.Treatment options are still questionable.Methods: Between 2008 and 2014, 201 patients over 583 have been arthroscopically treated with the AMIC procedure for grade III and/or IV acetabular chondral lesions.Patients age was between 18 and 50 years; acetabular chondral lesion size was between 2 and 4 cm 2 ; radiological Tönnis degree of osteoarthritis was ≤ 2. Results: The mean follow up of the entire group of 201 patients was 5 years (from 8 to 2).Significant improvement, as measured by the mHHS, was observed at 6 months in comparison to preoperative levels (80.3 ± 8.3) (p<0.001).Continuous improvement with respect to each previous evaluation time point was seen, reaching the highest improvement level at the three year follow-up (85.5 ± 7.2).The mean mHHS improvement recorded at the five year follow-up compared with preoperative scores was 39.1 ± 5.9.Conclusions: AMIC is a valid procedure to repair medium-sized chondral defects on the acetabular side of the hip found during treatment of FAI and lead to long-term favourable outcomes.Level of evidence: IV.