Abstract
The Bernese periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) is a well-established procedure in the management of symptomatic hip dysplasia. The associated Smith-Petersen exposure offers excellent visualization of the acetabulum and control of acetabular osteotomy and mobilization. The traditional exposure of the true pelvis involves osteotomy of the iliac wing in order to mobilize the sartorial and inguinal ligament insertion. However, full osteotomy of the iliac spine may necessitate screw fixation if a relatively large segment of bone is included. A known complication with screw fixation of the iliac wing osteotomy involves failure of fixation and screw back out. Moreover, the screw may be irritative to the patient even in the setting of adequate fixation. A larger osteotomy may also injure the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve as it travels near the anterior superior spine. To minimize the risk of these potential complications, a wafer osteotomy may be used to develop a sleeve of tissue involving the sartorial insertion. Markings may be made so that the curvilinear incision is centered about the anterior-superior iliac spine (ASIS). The sartorial sleeve also mobilizes the entirety of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve medially as it runs and branches to varying degrees in a fatty tissue layer in the tensor-sartorius interval directly beneath the subcutaneous layer, thereby affording protection throughout the procedure. When the ASIS is first osteotomized as a several millimeter-thick mobile fragment and reflected, the sartorius attachment to the mobile fragment of the wafer osteotomy may be preserved. Furthermore, the wafer osteotomy may be re-fixed to the stable pelvis during closure with simple heavy suture fixation alone, avoiding screw insertion or associated removal. Because only a wafer or bone is taken during the spine osteotomy, more bone is available at the ASIS for fixation of the mobile fragment after repositioning. In this technical note, we describe the wafer osteotomy technique in further detail.
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