Evaluation of the thickness of the proximal femoral canal in patients living at altitude.

OBJECTIVE: Our goal is to confirm the hypothesis that people who were born and raised on cities at altitude have a smaller proximal femoral canal. METHODS: Prospective study with 169 participants, divided into two groups. Group A: 99 patients who were born and raised at altitude and group B: 70 patients who were born and raised at low altitude. All patients underwent panoramic radiographs of the pelvis, where we marked three measure and checked the thickness of the cortical and the lateral and medial cortical, as well as the thickness of the femoral canal. RESULTS: We noticed that the first measure showed no significant difference in both groups, but the second measure, the lateral cortex, is thicker in group A, and the femoral canal is smaller in comparison to group B. CONCLUSION: We concluded that patients who were born and raised at altitude have a smaller femoral canal. This may help in proper planning of future surgical procedures, especially in total hip arthroplasty cases.

Evaluation of the thickness of the proximal femoral canal in patients living at altitude

OBJECTIVE: Our goal is to confirm the hypothesis that people who were born and raised on cities at altitude have a smaller proximal femoral canal. METHODS: Prospective study with 169 participants, divided into two groups. Group A: 99 patients who were born and raised at altitude and group B: 70 patients who were born and raised at low altitude. All patients underwent panoramic radiographs of the pelvis, where we marked three measure and checked the thickness of the cortical and the lateral and medial cortical, as well as the thickness of the femoral canal. RESULTS: We noticed that the first measure showed no significant difference in both groups, but the second measure, the lateral cortex, is thicker in group A, and the femoral canal is smaller in comparison to group B. CONCLUSION: We concluded that patients who were born and raised at altitude have a smaller femoral canal. This may help in proper planning of future surgical procedures, especially in total hip arthroplasty cases. Level of Evidence II, Development of Diagnostic Criteria in Consecutive Patients (with universally applied reference "gold" standard).

Do complications in hip arthroscopy change with experience?

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the type and incidence of complications during the development of hip arthroscopic techniques. METHODS: A retrospective series of 194 files of patients treated with hip arthroscopy in a tertiary hospital from December 1999 to March 2008 was reviewed for complications. The incidence of complications was recorded consecutively for each group of 30 patients and in intervals of 2 years. A comparison between the complication rates was performed within the time frames and the set of cases. The type and severity of complications were also recorded. RESULTS: There were 12 complications (6.1%) in this series. Of these, 5 were neurologic (2.6%), 4 were musculoskeletal (2%), and 3 were vascular/ischemic (1.5%). According to severity, 2 were considered major complications (1%), 8 were intermediate (4.1%), and 2 were minor (1%). The incidence of complications did not change with time (P = .959) or with the number of cases performed (P = .771), but different types of complications occurred along the learning curve. CONCLUSIONS: The nature of complications changed with experience, but no significant variation in the incidence was observed over the 9-year period of experience with hip arthroscopy. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV, therapeutic case series.