Spontaneous recovery of the joint space in degenerative hip disease.

Recovery of the joint space in degenerative hip disease after osteotomy has been described on several occasions and the literature includes reports by Adam and Spence (1958), Nissen (1963), and Harris and Kirwan (1964), but there is much less documentation on spontaneous recovery of the joint space, which forms the subject of this paper. Danielson (1964) reported real or apparent regression of arthritic changes in eight cases of coxarthrosis and in two of these he demonstrated 'the joint space changes to have regressed', though this was on the basis of only two x-rays over a 10-year period. Seifert, Whiteside, and Savage (1968) suggested recovery of the joint space in two hips with osteoarthrosis in a 5-year follow-up of 44 patients. Storey and Landells (1971) published a case report showing reformation of the femoral head and reappearance of the radiological joint space. The purpose of this study is to present fourteen hips showing osteoarthrosis with cystic change in which definite or probable recovery of the joint space occurred.