An experimental study on the treatment of osteonecrosis of the femoral head with autologous bone marrow grafting

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effectiveness and mechanism of transplantation of autol-ogous bone marrow in treating femoral head necrosis. Methods Sixty New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into groups A,B,and C after establishment of the models of femoral head necrosis. The left femoral head served as the control one,and the right as the experimental group. The mitoxantrone (0.1 mg/kg) with the help of DSA was injected into the femoral head of group A. One ml autologous bone marrow was injected into the femoral head of group B. In group C,mitoxantrone (0. 1 mg/kg) was injected,and 72 h later,1 ml autologous bone marrow was injected. Four months later,all rabbits were killed,and the femoral heads were removed and observed histologically and electron microscopically. Results The number of necrotic osteoclasts in groups A and B showed no significant difference ( P > 0.05 ), ande in group C, the number of necrotic femoral heads at the left and fight sides was 40. 60±4.11 and 21.33±2.16 respec-tively ( P < 0.05 ). At the experimental side of group C, the structure of majority bone cells was clear and intact,and necrosis was occasionally seen. Conclusion At the cellular level, local chemotherapy and au-tologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation had certain effectiveness for aseptic necrosis of the femoral head. Key words: Femoral head necrosis; Chemotherapy; Transplantation of autologous bone mar-row