Metabolic and hemodynamic results and early complications in simultaneous bilateral versus unilateral hip arthroscopy

Background: To compare the hemodynamic parameters-electrolyte concentration, D-dimer level, creatine phosphokinase level- and the incidence of early complications of simultaneous bilateral versus unilateral hip arthroscopy. Methods: A prospective study was conducted on patients (> 18 years of age) undergoing unilateral or bilateral hip arthroscopy under the same anesthetic between 2013 and 2015. Patients were followed up for 30 days after surgery. In all cases, data were collected before, during, and after the surgical procedure. Results: One hundred cases of hip arthroscopy (51 unilateral and 49 bilateral) were included in this study. There was a greater variation in systolic blood pressure and heart rate in the unilateral group. The sodium levels were higher in the bilateral group with an adjusted mean difference of 5.31 mmol/L (p < 0.001). During the first 24 hours after the procedure, the proportion of patients with an altered D-dimer of > 500 ng/mL was 85.7% in the bilateral group and 56.9% in the unilateral group. There was no significant difference in the incidence of complications between the groups (bilateral, 8.2%; unilateral, 9.8%; crude odds ratio, 0.83; 95% confidence interval, 0.24 to 2.92; p = 0.526). Conclusions: The variations of hemodynamic parameters in patients undergoing hip arthroscopy remained within normal ranges. The findings of this study suggest that bilateral hip arthroscopy be selected according to the patient’s condition, considering that the risk of complications and metabolic alterations in bilateral hip arthroplasty are similar to those in unilateral arthroscopy.