Background

Labral reconstruction has shown promise for the treatment of irreparable labral tears in high-level athletes. The literature is scarce regarding outcomes and timing of return to sport in these patients.

Purpose

1) To report minimum 2-year patient-reported outcome (PRO) scores, return to sport (RTS) characteristics for high-level athletes undergoing primary labral reconstruction and 2) to compare clinical results with a matched control group of athletes undergoing labral repair.

Study Design: Cohort Study; Level of Evidence, 3.

Methods

Data were prospectively collected and retrospectively reviewed for high school, college and professional athletes who underwent a primary arthroscopic labral reconstruction between January 2010 and June 2018. Minimum 2-year PROs were compared for the modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS), Nonarthritic Hip Score (NAHS), Hip Outcome Score-Sport Specific Subscale (HOS-SSS), as well as the visual analog scale pain score (VAS), patient satisfaction and RTS. Percentage of patients achieving patient acceptable symptomatic state (PASS) and minimal clinically importance difference (MCID) for the mHHS (74 and 8, respectively) and HOS-SSS (75 and 6, respectively) were also recorded. These patients were propensity scored matched in a 1:3 ratio to other high-level athletes undergoing labral repair.

Results

Seventeen high-level athletes with primary arthroscopic labral reconstruction were included with mean follow-up time of 38.9 months (95% CI, 38.4 to 63.4 months). They demonstrated significant improvement from preoperative to latest follow-up for mHHS, NAHS, HOS-SSS, and VAS (P < .05). The rate of return to sport was 85.7% and patients achieved PASS/MCID for mHHS at high rates (PASS: 82.4%, MCID: 70.6%). Athletes were able to return to sport-specific training at a median of 3.33 months (95% CI, 3.07 – 4.71 months) and return to sport at a median of 6.2 months (95% CI, 5.08 – 11.98 months). PROs, RTS rate, and PASS/MCID rates were similar between the labral reconstruction and a control labral repair group (P > .05).

Conclusion

Primary arthroscopic labral reconstruction was associated with significant improvement in PROs and high rates of return to play in high-level athletes. These results were comparable to a control group of athletes undergoing labral repair.