Hip Preservation brochure Mr P Carton - Flipbook - Page 7
An area of particular interest and focus for Mr Carton over the past 20 years has been hip
preservation, and specifically (key-hole) hip arthroscopy. This is a very specialised area of
orthopaedic surgery which he has been at the fore of developing. It is a minimally invasive
surgical approach which can have enormous positive implications for sufferers of a painful
hip. The goal of surgery is to repair rather than replace the damaged structures, and
ultimately delay or eliminate the need for a future hip replacement.
Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), is a condition where the femoral head and the
rim of the acetabulum have, over time, developed an irregular shape and don’t fit
together perfectly, as they should. A cam deformity describes the morphologic
changes to the femoral head-neck junction and can be characterised by a loss of
sphericity via flattening or osseous bump at this region. A pincer deformity can be
characterised by localised or global over-coverage of the femoral head by the
acetabulum
The imperfect combination of shapes can cause damage to the surrounding soft
tissues and cartilage, and over time lead to pain, stiffness, reduced mobility and
progression toward early-onset osteoarthritis if left untreated.
