Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head: Update Article

Among the pathologies that affect the hip joint, osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is probably the most intriguing and challenging. It consists of a multifactorial disease with a highly-variable spectrum in its clinical presentation. It has a devastating effect, due to disabling painful conditions, both for usual activities and sports. Given the huge range of risk factors, such as prolonged use of corticosteroids (especially in cases of rheumatologic diseases), trauma sequelae, sickle cell anemia, HIV, alcoholism, smoking, blood dyscrasias, and several other diseases that compromise the blood supply to the femoral head, ONFH has a varied clinical presentation and prognosis, which makes it difficult to determine a specific treatment, especially in cases in which chondral involvement has not yet occurred and the hip joint is still preserved. These are the main factors found in the literature that determine the classifications of this pathology. The range of treatments includes several options for cases in which an attempt is made to save the joint: conservative treatment, traditional decompression and/or combined with some type of adjuvant treatment (homologous grafting, synthetic grafting, vascularized grafts, tantalum screws, and bone marrow aspirate injection), and, for cases in which there is already a subchondral fracture and/or collapse of the femoral head and/or a reduction in the joint space, femoral osteotomies or total hip arthroplasty are commonly performed.