Arthroscopic Labral Repair Versus Physical Therapy for Tears of the Acetabular Labrum

ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03909178

Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03909178. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.

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Official title

Arthroscopic Labral Repair Versus Physical Therapy for Tears of the Acetabular Labrum in Patients Age 40 and Older

Brief summary

Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.

Tears of the acetabular labrum appear to be common with the prevalence of asymptomatic tears in the general population approaching 66% and 70% based on cadaveric dissection and magnetic resonance imaging, respectively. Despite this prevalence, there is no currently accepted justification for performing labral repair in an asymptomatic patient despite the many postulated biomechanical benefits that an intact labrum imparts to the hip joint. Representing a smaller proportion of all tears, symptomatic tears of the acetabular labrum present a therapeutic challenge. Current treatment modalities range from conservative measures to open surgical intervention. Conservative measures have typically included: activity modification, the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), physical therapy (PT), core strengthening and improvement of sensory motor control. In the past two decades, technological advances in the form of surgical instrumentation and traction devices have facilitated less invasive arthroscopic techniques to diagnose and treat hip problems and as such is now the preferred treatment modality for many orthopedic surgeons treating patients with hip pathology. Determining which patients, using age and arthritic burden as predictors, can benefit from labral repair is paramount for several reasons. Showing arthroscopic repair is of little or no benefit to a specific cohort can reduce the number of unnecessary surgeries performed, increase the use of conservative therapy (if validated) and reduce the interval between diagnosis and total hip replacement.

Study identification

NCT ID: NCT03909178
Recruitment status: Active, not recruiting
Study type: Interventional
Phase: Not applicable
Lead sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital; Other
Enrollment: 110 participants

Conditions and interventions

Conditions

Interventions

Procedure

Eligibility (public fields only)

Age range: 18 Years and older
Sex: All
Healthy volunteers: Healthy volunteers not accepted

This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.

Study timeline

Start date: Oct 20, 2013
Primary completion: Jun 19, 2020
Completion: May 31, 2030
Last update posted: Nov 9, 2025

2013 – 2030

United States locations

U.S. sites: 1
U.S. states: 1
U.S. cities: 1

Facility	City	State	ZIP	Site status
MGH, Massachusetts General Hospital	Boston	Massachusetts	02114	—

Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.

About this trial record page

What this page shows: Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03909178, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
What this page does not do: No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
Where the data comes from: Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
Last refresh: Last update posted Nov 9, 2025 · Synced Sep 5, 2026

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