Arthroscopic Fixation of Osteochondral Fracture of Head of Femur. Case Study.

This article describes the case of an 18-year-old male after hip dislocation caused by snowboard injury, which resulted in osteochondral fracture of the head of femur with displacement of a loose body. CT as well as MRI confirmed the presence of a loose osteochondral fragment (20x14x4mm) fractured from the weight-bear-ing superoanterior part of head of femur (Pipkin type II). The surgical management undertaken was only arthroscopic, this representing a very rare case when com-par-ed to the literature. The article describes in detail the technical aspects of the procedure. At 4 months post-surgery, the replanted fragment had healed properly and the patient was pain-free and had the full range of movements. A low-invasive arthroscopic procedure is associated with less local tissue damage, reduced risk of infection and less blood loss. With this approach, it is possible to fix an osteochondral fragment without unnecessary defects in the cartilaginous surface.