Etiology of avascular osteonecrosis of the femoral head

Abstract

Avascular osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is one of the causes of hip pain that clinicians need to know about. In many cases, it is a fortuitous discovery when pelvic X-rays is performed for another reason. In the other cases, pain reveals the disease. For the rheumatologist, a major part of the job is to look for a cause. An etiology can be found to ONFH in about 70% of the cases. Some of them are evident and the context give the diagnosis (corticosteroids, alcohol abuse…). However, in many cases, additional tests to imaging are required to make the causal diagnosis. In some cases, the treatment of the cause can prevent the recurrence of the disease.

Keywords: Alcohol; Avascular osteonecrosis; Avascular osteonecrosis of the femoral head; Corticosteroids; Osteonecrosis.