A total of 351 adults with hip and groin pain were randomized to either arthroscopic surgery (n = 173) or PHT (n = 178). The mean age of participants was 35 years, with no significant differences between the two treatment groups in terms of baseline demographics or type or duration of hip impingement.
While surgery was better in terms of patient outcomes, the study didn’t demonstrate its cost-effectiveness within the first 12 months, Dr. Foster observed. Cost-effectiveness, together with various other quality-of-life measurements, was a secondary endpoint of the study.
“Longer-term outcomes are required to establish whether improvement is sustained, and whether surgery is cost-effective at the longer time points for our health service,” she said.
Responding to a question about whether any of the patients in the study had radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis, Dr. Foster said that such patients had been excluded from the study.