Ligamentum teres injury is associated with the articular damage pattern in patients with femoroacetabular impingement.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the association between ligamentum teres injury and the hip joint cartilage damage pattern in patients with femoroacetabular impingement.

Methods: We compared articular cartilage damage between ligamentum teres-intact and-ruptured hips. Data were collected for 77 consecutive patients with femoroacetabular impingement who underwent hip arthroscopy. The locations of the chondral lesions were recorded on anatomic articular maps using the geographic zone method. The patients were divided into 2 groups (ligamentum teres-intact and-injured groups), and the incidence and degree of cartilage injury were compared between the 2 groups by use of the Mann-Whitney U test.

Results: In patients with ligamentum teres injury, chondral damage extended to the middle-inferior area of the acetabulum (7.6% [grade 1] in ligamentum teres-intact group and 66.6% [grade 1, 12.1%; grade 2, 42.4%; grade 3, 12.1%] in ligamentum teres-injured group, P < .01) and the apex of the femoral head (anterior apex: 7.1% [grade 1, 3.8%; grade 2, 3.3%] in intact group and 42.4% [grade 1, 30.3%; grade 2, 12.1%] in injured group, P < .01; middle apex: 7.6% [grade 1, 3.8%; grade 2, 3.8%] in intact group and 63.5% [grade 1, 42.4%; grade 2, 18.1%; grade 3, 3.0%] in injured group, P = .04; posterior apex: 7.6% [grade 1, 3.8%; grade 2, 3.8%] in intact group and 42.4% [grade 1, 30.3%; grade 2, 12.1%] in injured group, P < .01).

Conclusions: This study showed the association between ligamentum teres injury and articular cartilage damage in the inferior middle part of the acetabulum and the apex of the femoral head in patients treated for femoroacetabular impingement.

Level Of Evidence: Level IV, case-control study.