We reviewed 48 hips in 43 patients 3-7.1 years (average 4.6 years) after Sugioka transtrochanteric rotational osteotomy for osteonecrosis of the femoral head. The average age at operation was 41 years. Thirty-four patients were men and 9 women. Overall results at the final follow-up were satisfactory in 30 hips (62%). Kaplan-Meier's survivorship was 62% at 3 years and 60% at 5 years postoperatively. Six hips for which the ratio of the intact area of the articular surface on the preoperative lateral radiograph was less than 30% showed further collapse. Five hips were converted to bipolar hemiarthroplasties or total hip arthroplasties. Complications, such as varus deformity, subtrochanteric fracture, and ectopic bone formation, occurred in eight hips. Five of them were operated on in the first 2 years of this series. Three of these five operations had unsatisfactory results. We conclude that satisfactory results can be achieved using this osteotomy by maintaining exact surgical technique and by limiting the surgical indications to hips with an intact area of more than one-third of the entire articular surface on the lateral radiograph of the femoral head.

No abstract

A 31-year-old pregnant woman suddenly complained of bilateral hip pain 2 weeks before delivery. She was delivered of triplets by Caesarean section. She had been treated with human menopausal gonadotropin and human chorionic gonadotropin (hMG-hCG) before pregnancy. Radiograms of the hip joint showed collapse of the femoral heads bilaterally. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a band pattern of low signal intensity for both hips on T1- and T2-weighted images. She had no history of steroid therapy or alcohol abuse. Osteonecrosis of the femoral heads bilaterally associated with pregnancy was confirmed. Pathology of the femoral head showed typical empty lacunae and necrosis of the trabecula.

We performed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in osteoarthrosis (OA) of 35 dysplastic hips in 28 patients using a 1.5-Tesla superconductive magnet. MR images were compared with conventional radiographs and arthrograms. MRI demonstrated cartilage irregularity and joint space narrowing in 17 hips earlier than did radiographs. Acetabular labrum tears were observed in 24 hips by MRI and in 23 hips by arthrography, suggesting that the former may be as useful as the latter. Osteophytes, joint effusion and synovial proliferation can be identified better by MRI than by conventional radiography. An MR grading system was established according to the thickness of the cartilage and sclerosis of the acetabulum or femoral head. This system can be a powerful tool to recognize the early stage of OA. MRI can demonstrate directly the severity of OA, including early degeneration of articular cartilage and acetabular labrum tear.

We investigated the results of 31 hips in 26 patients with nontraumatic (n = 20) and steroid-induced (n = 6) avascular necrosis of the femoral head (ANFH) treated with vascularized iliac pedicle bone graft (PBG). The average age at operation was 38.3 years. Three were women and 23 men. The average follow-up was 8.0 years. The Harris hip score prior to operation and at latest follow-up improved from 62 to 83; one hip collapsed and was revised with a bipolar endoprosthesis. At the final follow-up, 19 hips (63%) were clinically rated as good to excellent, 4 fair, and 7 poor. At the final follow-up, 15 of 27 hips (56%) of stage II before operation showed progressive collapse after bone grafting. In steroid-induced ANFH, in three women, 2 of 4 hips showed poor results. These results are only slightly better than those of core decompression and no better than those obtained after decompression and simple nonvascularized grafts to provide support for the subchondral bone. We concluded that vascularized PBG is sometimes indicated for ANFH in an early stage before collapse of the femoral head.