Abstract
The diagnosis of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) syndrome is relatively recent. Therefore, the concept of early hip arthritis development is an interesting issue.
The assumed prevalence of this disease is rather high and any postponement of necessity to perform total hip arthroplasty (THA) for hip arthritis, as a FAI sequela, should bring benefits to medical care as well as economy. To make an exact diagnosis it is necessary, in addition to essential clinical examination and standard conventional radiography, to carry out MRI that, in indicated cases, is combined with arthrography Surgical treatment includes extensive procedures, such as controlled surgical dislocation of the hip with modeling of the femoral head and peri-acetabular osteotomy.
In the case of primary surgery for FAI, short- and middle-term results so far obtained are promising, but only long-term results will show whether, and for how many years, this therapy is able to postpone the necessity of THA. For the future, biological therapy using autologous hyaline cartilage transfer will remain a challenge also for this indication.