Introduction: Avascular necrosis of femoral head (AVN) is 1 of the main factors causing disability in young adults. Hip prosthesis can be considered an effective treatment of the painful symptoms but it is a major surgical intervention for this type of population. Thus, a large space should be left to therapeutic alternatives such as regenerative medicine. This retrospective study evaluates 52 AVN treated by core decompression, bone chips allograft, fibrin platelet-rich plasma (PRF) and concentrated autologous mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). Methods: The AVN was diagnosed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and graded according to ARCO classification: a patient was classified stage 1 (21 patients), stage 3 (26 patients), and 4 patients were classified as stage 4. We evaluated patients with functional scores (Harris Hip Score) and radiological analysis at 3, 6, 12 and 24 months after the procedure. Patients requiring prosthetic replacement of the joint were included; in these cases, follow-up was interrupted at the time of the joint replacement procedure. Results: Our statistical analysis showed differences between survived and failed treatments, in terms of patient profile and ARCO radiological classification. The best result occurred in patients with ARCO grades 1 and 2, while the more advanced grades showed a high failure rate. It is interesting to note that ARCO quantification, conceived as the joint surface involved in the necrosis, has a negative influence on the outcome of the procedure. Indeed, patients affected by ARCO 3a, where necrosis involved a small portion of the femoral epiphysis and the collapse of the articular surface was limited to 2 mm, showed results similar to those obtained in patients with ARCO 1 and 2. Conclusions: In conclusion, compared with the alternative technique of decompression, our data suggest that post-collapse cases with a small area of necrosis and the use of bone grafts may show better results compared to those of the literature.

: Fluid-fluid levels result from separation of two fluids of differing densities within a cavernous space with the boundary between the two layers running in a horizontal plane at 90 degrees to the direction of gravity. Magnetic resonance imaging is the most sensitive imaging modality to identify fluid-fluid levels. Although the most common bone lesions containing fluid-fluid levels are aneurysmal bone cyst and telangiectatic osteosarcoma, fluid-fluid levels can be observed in a wide variety of bone and soft tissue lesions. Therefore, fluid-fluid levels cannot be considered diagnostic of any particular type of tumor and the diagnosis should be made on the basis of other clinical, radiological and pathological findings. This article summarizes the pathophysiology and imaging characteristics of fluid-fluid levels and discusses the differential diagnosis of the tumors with this imaging sign.

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(1) Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common sleep-related breathing disorder and is characterized by recurrent episodes of complete or partial obstruction of the upper airway, leading to reduced or absent breathing during sleep. A nocturnal upper airway collapse is often multi-levelled. The aim of this communication is to describe a 3D multi-level surgery setting in OSA pathology, introducing new surgical approaches, such as 4K-3D endoscopic visualization for the tongue base approach with the aid of a coblator and exoscopic visualization in the palatal approach. (2) Methods: Seven patients affected by OSA underwent 3D Barbed Reposition Pharyngoplasty (BRP) surgery associated with transoral coblation tongue base reduction and nose surgery. (3) Results: No patients experienced intra-operative, post-operative or delayed complications. For OSA multi-level 3D surgery, it took less than 2 h: the median 3D system setting time was 12.5 ± 2.3 min; the overall procedure time was 59.3 ± 26 min. (4) Conclusions: The use of the 4K-3D endoscope and coblator for tongue base resectioning and of the 3D exoscope for lateral pharyngoplasty represents an excellent system in multi-level OSA related surgery that could reduce the time and the costs compared to those of robotic surgery.