Outcomes After Arthroscopic Hip Labral Reconstruction: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background: The acetabular labrum is critical to maintenance of hip stability and has been found to play a key role in preservation of the hip fluid seal. For irreparable labral damage, arthroscopic labral reconstruction is an evolving technique that has been shown to decrease hip pain and restore function. Purpose: To provide a comprehensive review of current literature for arthroscopic hip labral reconstruction, with a focus on determining if outcomes differ between autograft or allograft tissue. Study Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: PubMed and Scopus online databases were searched with the key terms “hip,”“labrum,”“reconstruction,” and “graft” in varying combinations. Procedures performed, complications, failures, and functional outcome measures were included in this analysis. The inverse variance method was used to calculate pooled estimates and 95% CIs. Results: Eight studies with 537 hips were included. Mean age was 37.4 years (95% CI, 34.5-40.4 years), and mean follow-up time was 29 months (95% CI, 26-33 months). Survivorship after autograft reconstruction ranged from 75.7% to 100%, as compared with 86.3% to 90.0% in the allograft cohort. In the autograft cohort, failures included 0% to 13.2% conversion to total hip arthroplasty and 0% to 11.0% revision hip arthroscopy. Failures in the allograft cohort included 0% to 12.9% total hip arthroplasty conversion, 0% to 10.0% revision arthroscopy, and 0% to 0.8% open revision surgery. Based on 6 studies, the modified Harris Hip Score improved by a mean 29.0 points after labral reconstruction ( P < .0001). Conclusion: Arthroscopic hip labral reconstruction results in clinically significant improvements in patient-reported outcomes. Our analysis indicates that there are no significant differences in outcomes based on graft type alone. A number of factors may determine graft choice, including patient preference, surgeon experience, operative time, morbidity, and cost. Proper patient selection based on age and severity of degenerative joint disease will also optimize outcomes after labral reconstruction.