Structural bone-grafting for early atraumatic avascular necrosis of the femoral head

Between 1970 and 1987, nineteen patients, thirty-one to fifty-five years old, had twenty core-decompression procedures with corticocancellous bone-grafting for Stage-I or II atraumatic avascular necrosis of the femoral head. A tibial autogenous graft was used in three hips; a fibular autogenous graft, in seven hips; and a fibular allograft, in ten hips. Treatment was considered to have failed when there was clinical or roentgenographic evidence of progression of the necrosis. Eighteen patients who had a minimum follow-up of two years (average, eight years; range, two to nineteen years) were asymptomatic, with no evidence of progression of the necrosis or collapse of the affected segment. In two hips, the necrotic segment of the femoral head collapsed within one year after the operation, and a replacement arthroplasty was carried out.