This prospective multicenter study defined the complication profile of the Bernese periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) when performed by experienced surgeons. It enrolled 205 consecutive patients at 7 North American centers and used a validated grading scheme to categorize every perioperative complication through one year.
PAO complication literature before this paper was almost entirely retrospective, nonstandardized, and dominated by learning-curve data. Rates as high as 46% had been reported, making it difficult to counsel patients about what to expect from a surgeon who already knows the procedure.
This paper gives you an honest benchmark: quote patients a 5.9% risk of a major complication requiring intervention, with no expected permanent disability. That number comes from 10 experienced surgeons across 7 centers, prospectively tracked.
When counseling a patient preoperatively, distinguish lateral femoral cutaneous nerve numbness (expected, not a complication) from dysesthesia (painful, classified as a complication). This distinction is explicit in the paper and is clinically important for informed consent.
Heterotopic ossification is common after PAO and is mostly asymptomatic, but Brooker grade III and IV lesions may complicate future total hip arthroplasty. Long-term surveillance is warranted even when patients are currently pain-free.
This prospective multicenter study defined the complication profile of the Bernese periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) when performed by experienced surgeons. It enrolled 205 consecutive patients at 7 North American centers and used a validated grading scheme to categorize every perioperative complication through one year.
PAO complication literature before this paper was almost entirely retrospective, nonstandardized, and dominated by learning-curve data. Rates as high as 46% had been reported, making it difficult to counsel patients about what to expect from a surgeon who already knows the procedure.
This paper gives you an honest benchmark: quote patients a 5.9% risk of a major complication requiring intervention, with no expected permanent disability. That number comes from 10 experienced surgeons across 7 centers, prospectively tracked.
When counseling a patient preoperatively, distinguish lateral femoral cutaneous nerve numbness (expected, not a complication) from dysesthesia (painful, classified as a complication). This distinction is explicit in the paper and is clinically important for informed consent.
Heterotopic ossification is common after PAO and is mostly asymptomatic, but Brooker grade III and IV lesions may complicate future total hip arthroplasty. Long-term surveillance is warranted even when patients are currently pain-free.