A catastrophic complication of hip arthroscopy

Abstract

We present the case of an unusual and serious complication of hip arthroscopy due to the severance of the inferior gluteal artery. The lesion induced a severe anemic condition and the formation of a large pseudoaneurysm, which compressed the sciatic nerve and left permanent neurologic sequelae. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of its kind. We also describe how to establish a safe posterior hip joint arthroscopic portal to avoid such a complication.