The purpose of this study was to investigate the natural course of the minimally symptomatic nonoperated hip in patients with pre-osteoarthritis or early osteoarthritis in bilaterally dysplastic hips.
The material consisted of 61 patients with bilaterally dysplastic hips who underwent rotational acetabular osteotomy in their symptomatic hip and nonoperative treatment in their asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic hip. The average follow-up was 10.1 years (range 7.0-15.6 years), and the average age at the time of surgery was 38.2 years (range 20-58 years). All patients were divided into two groups by joint congruity of the nonoperated hip at surgery with rotational acetabular osteotomy.
On radiographic assessment, 1 of the 35 pre-osteoarthritis hips had developed early osteoarthritis, and 6 of the 26 early osteoarthritis hips had progressed to advanced osteoarthritis. The Kaplan-Meier survivorship analysis for the whole group of nonoperated hips, with radiographic progression of osteoarthritis as the endpoint, predicted a 10-year survival rate of 83.7% (95% confidence interval 70%-98%). Significant differences were observed in the radiographic stage (pre- and early osteoarthritis group, P=0.015) and joint congruity (good and fair group, P=0.005).
If the contralateral nonoperated hip has good joint congruity, minimal symptoms, and no or little radiographic change in patients with pre- or early osteoarthritis and bilateral acetabular dysplasia, the probability of radiographic progression is low.