Ischemic necrosis of the femoral head

  Avascular Necrosis of Femoral Head (ANFH) is a lesion caused by localized poor blood flow to the femoral head due to various reasons, resulting in ischemia, necrosis, trabecular fracture, and collapse of the femoral head. If the treatment is not timely, the symptoms can be further aggravated, and the hip joint can be impaired and the lower limbs cannot bear weight, which can lead to lifelong disability in serious cases.  Causes: 1, trauma: most have a history of hip injury (such as femoral neck fracture, hip dislocation, etc.).  2, hormonal factors: there is a large amount of glucocorticoid use history (such as dexamethasone, prednisone, etc.).  3, alcoholism: a history of long-term alcohol consumption (high level of liquor mainly).  4, other causes: such as acetabular dysplasia, hip subluxation, cold, etc.  Clinical bed manifestations: Early on, there is mostly no obvious discomfort, then there can be hidden pain, soreness and dull pain in and around the hip joint, which is aggravated after walking, followed by limping and squatting difficulties. The pain can be unilateral or bilateral. Clinical examination shows hip joint pressure pain (mainly anterior to the hip) and pinching pain in the internal femoral retractor muscle; limitation of hip joint movement (limitation of internal rotation is the earliest and most common, followed by limitation of abduction).  X-ray condition: Femoral head necrosis can be divided into four stages. In stage I, the bone is slightly osteoporotic; in stage II, the femoral head is normal in appearance, with intra-capital cystic area and osteosclerosis at the edge; in stage III, the femoral head is subchondral collapsed, the femoral head is deformed, the edge is not continuous or not rounded, and the bimodal sign or flattening of the femoral head is visible; in stage IV, on the basis of stage III, there is narrowing of the joint space, secondary degeneration of the acetabulum, dense subchondral sclerosis, and bone redundancy formation at the acetabular rim.  CT/MRI examination: The early X-ray changes of ischemic necrosis of the femoral head are not obvious, and the X-ray film of stage I osteonecrosis is often difficult to confirm the diagnosis, but once detected, it has already entered stage II. CT/MRI examination can confirm the diagnosis at an early stage, clarify the exact location, scope and degree of femoral head necrosis, provide a basis and guide the treatment.  (CT shows early ischemic necrosis of the femoral head) Clinical diagnosis: 1. Hip pain, limitation of movement, and periarticular pressure pain.  2. Necrosis-like changes on X-ray or MRI.  Treatment and care: 1. General treatment: 1. Free the affected limb from weight-bearing. Once the diagnosis is confirmed, you should immediately set up the crutches to reduce the pressure on the femoral head to avoid the femoral head collapse or aggravate the femoral head collapse. Collapse of the femoral head will increase the difficulty of treatment and poor prognosis.  2. Abstain from alcohol, hormonal drugs, and reduce or eliminate the causative factors.  Conventional treatment: 1. Drilling and decompression of the femoral head. It is used for patients with stage I~II and more obvious pain, which can reduce the pressure in the femoral head, relieve the pain, improve the blood flow in the head and promote the repair of osteonecrosis.  2.Interventional therapy treatment. Expand the blood vessels and improve the blood circulation of the femoral head, generally used for patients with stage I~II.  (Drilling and decompression) 3.Osseous graft with myotis. A method to implant a bone graft with a myotome into the femoral head.  4.Clearance of lesion + bone grafting. Surgically clean up the necrotic bone in the head and implant the prepared bone block to support, fill the gap, promote new bone growth and crawl.  5.Femoral head replacement.  6.Hip arthroplasty.