[Magnetic resonance imaging and histopathology in the femoral head]

To correlate the magnetic resonance (MR) images with the histopathological findings in the femoral head, the histopathology of 24 femoral heads, 15 with osteonecrosis, five with osteoarthritis and four with other hip disorders were subjected to preoperative MR imaging which demonstrated low intensity areas due to long T1 relaxation time in the femoral head. The MR signal was low where fibrovascular tissue, disintegrated fibrovascular tissue, amorphous necrotic material, bone, or cartilagenous tissue occupied the medullary space. From this study, it seems possible to predict the histopathologic changes in the femoral head using MR images.