Anterior Hip Dislocation Five Months After Hip Arthroscopy: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Introduction Hip arthroscopy has increased in frequency over 300% between 2004 and 2009, as it has become an important technique used most often to treat diagnoses of labral tears or femoroacetabular impingement. The procedure is most commonly performed in young adults aged 20-39 years and has been found to be an effective intervention for getting athletes back to their sport. An important consideration in young active patients is the complication rate associated with a procedure. Notably, hip arthroscopy has been observed to be a low-risk intervention. The hip arthroscopy complication rate has been reported to be 7.5% for minor complications, such as iatrogenic chondrolabral injury or transient neuropraxia, and 0.58% for major events, including postoperative dislocation, pulmonary embolus, and death. Dislocation has proven to be an exceedingly rare complication of hip arthroscopy with a systematic analysis documenting only four dislocation events out of 6,134 cases. Although rare, these dislocation events, along with cadaveric studies, have highlighted the role of the iliofemoral ligament in anterior subluxation and overall hip stability. On the whole, these observations have encouraged arthroscopists to minimize capsulotomies and repair the ligaments upon completion. The previous reports of post-arthroscopy hip dislocation have occurred in the postoperative time period ranging from the recovery room to up to two months postoperatively after falling. We report on a case of atraumatic dislocation that occurred in a high-level collegiate track and field athlete while jumping five months after hip arthroscopy. To our knowledge, this case represents the most remote dislocation event ever reported following arthroscopy and describes a novel mechanism of post-operative subluxation in athletes.