Arthroscopic retrograde osteochondral autologous transplantation to chondral lesion in femoral head.

This report describes the treatment of 2 cases of full-thickness cartilage defect of the femoral head. The authors performed osteochondral autologous transplantation with a different technique that has not been reported to date. One patient was 37 years old, and the other was 42 years old. Both presented with hip pain. In both patients, radiograph and magnetic resonance imaging scan showed a focal chondral defect on the weight-bearing area of the femoral head and acetabular impingement. A retrograde osteochondral autologous transplantation technique combined with hip arthroscopy and arthroscopic impingement treatment was performed. After a 2-month recovery period, the symptoms were resolved. In the first year of follow-up, Harris Hip scores improved significantly (case 1, 56.6 to 87.6; case 2, 58.6 to 90). The technique described yielded good short- and midterm clinical and radiologic outcomes. To the authors' knowledge, this report is the first to describe a retrograde osteochondral transplantation technique performed with hip arthroscopy in the femoral head.