OBJECTIVETo study the clinical outcome of manipulation release combined with arthroscopic debridement and synovia resection under general anesthesia for early hip involvment in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

METHODSManipulation release combined with arthroscpic debridement and synovium resection were performed for hip lesion in 22 patients with ankylosing spondylitis from June 2011 to June 2013, incuding 6 males and 16 females with anverage age of 24.7 years ranging from 17 to 23 years. The course of the diseases was from 10 to 41 months(22.1 months on average). After 6 months of conservative treatment, hip pain and other symptoms were no relief. The preoperative and postoperative follow-up evaluation was performed and compared by the hip movement, VAS pain score, mHHS score and NAHS score.

RESULTSAll the patients were followed up for 26 to 44 months with an average of 30.2 months. The range of motion in active flexion-extension, abduction-adduction, internal-external rotation in 0° flexion and 90° flexion increased from (78.2±10.2)°, (36.3±6.4)°, (31.1±9.2)° and (37.3±10.5)° before operation to (113.5±8.4)°, (55.7±8.4)°, (58.7±2.1)° and (60.1±9.8)° after operation, respectively. The VAS scores decreased from 8.5±9.4 before operation to 5.5±7.1 after operation. The modified Harris and NAHS scores increased from 60.8±6.9 and 56.9±6.25 before operation to 88.1±10.4 and 84.6±5.4 after operation, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSManipulation release combined with arthroscopic debridement and synovium resection under general anesthesia could effectively control the progression of hip lesion in patients with ankylosing spondylitis restoring the ROM, relieve pain symptoms, delay joint deformity and ankylosis with less bleeding, faster recovery, and significantly improve patients' quality of life.