Takeaway
- For symptomatic femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), hip arthroscopy beats physiotherapy and activity adjustment for symptom improvement, according to FAIT results.
- Not all patients gain benefit from surgery.
Why this matters
- FAI may underlie half of cases of hip arthritis.
- Treatment options remain a matter of debate because both can improve symptoms.
- Surgery rates have increased.
Key results
- Hip outcome score activities of daily living subscale:
- Mean score with conservative treatment: 69.2 (95% CI, 65.2-73.3);
- With surgery: 78.4 (95% CI, 74.4-82.3).
- With adjustment, mean score with surgery was 10.0 points greater (P=.001).
- That increase surpassed minimum of 9 points for clinical relevance.
Study design
- Parallel, blinded, pragmatic, randomized controlled trial for femoroacetabular impingement treatment (FAIT).
- 7 UK sites, 222 participants (112 surgery; 110 conservative management) aged 18-60 years.
- Outcome: activity of daily living score at 8 months.
- Funding: Arthritis Research UK; National Institute for Health Research.
Limitations
- Patients with dysplasia, osteoarthritis excluded, although they can benefit from surgery.
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