Gaucher disease--the orthopaedic aspect. Report of seven cases

Seven patients with Gaucher type 1 disease are presented: five female and two male. The orthopaedic problems encountered were: avascular necrosis of both femoral heads in two girls, bilateral bone infarctions of the femurs in all three girls, complicated by staphylococcal osteomyelitis of the right femur in one girl and by pathological fractures of both femurs in another girl, osteonecrosis of both humeral heads in one male adult patient, osteonecrosis of the femoral heads in two further adults (male and female), and a pathological fracture of the fourth lumbar vertebra in another adult woman with concomitant humeral head involvement. The patient with osteonecrosis of the humeral head was treated with a total shoulder arthroplasty, and the two patients with osteonecrosis of the femoral heads were treated with total hip arthroplasties, with satisfactory intermediate and long-term results.