Arthroscopic 'Luggage Tag' suture repair technique for acetabular labral injuries

This study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of hip arthroscopic luggage-tag suture repair for the treatment of acetabular labral tears. This single-center retrospective study was approved by the institutional ethics committee and enrolled 33 patients with acetabular labral tears treated between January 2019 and December 2021. According to the intraoperative surgical strategy, 20 patients underwent luggage-tag suture repair and 13 underwent isolated labral debridement (ALD). The modified Harris Hip Score, Visual Analogue Scale, and Non-Arthritic Hip Score were used to assess hip pain and functional recovery before surgery and at 18 months postoperatively. All patients completed a minimum 18-month follow-up. Both groups showed significant improvements in mHHS, VAS, and NAHS scores at the 18-month follow-up compared with preoperative baseline ( P < 0.05), with notable pain relief and functional restoration in each cohort. No significant intergroup differences in postoperative functional scores were observed between the two groups ( P > 0.05). However, obvious baseline differences existed in age and labral degenerative status: the debridement group comprised older patients with more severe labral degeneration, whereas the repair group had younger patients with relatively preserved labral tissue, indicating inherent selection bias. Individualized application of either hip arthroscopic luggage-tag suture repair or isolated labral debridement can yield satisfactory clinical outcomes in patients with acetabular labral tears. Baseline inter-group differences limit direct comparison between the two procedures.