One-sided hip-preserving and concurrent contralateral total hip arthroplasty for the treatment of bilateral osteonecrosis of the femoral head in different stages: short-medium term outcomes

Yirong Zeng,Jianchun Zeng,Xinyu Qi,Jie Li,Chunzhi Yi,Feilong Li,Jinlun Chen,Wenjun Feng

doi:10.1186/s12891-015-0583-5

Abstract

BackgroundWe aimed to evaluate the clinical and radiological short-medium term outcomes for the treatment of bilateral osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) with hip-preserving surgery of core decompression followed by tightly impaction bone grafting combining with non-vascularized fibular allografting in one hip and concurrent one-stage total hip arthroplasty (THA) in the contralateral side. We hypothesized the aforementioned surgery showed benefits of protecting the preserved hip from collapsing and thereafter THA was delayed or avoided.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed a consecutive series of 18 non-traumatic bilateral ONFH patients (36 hips) who had undergone previous mentioned surgeries between July 2004 and June 2013. Preoperative and the last follow-up Harris Hip Score (HHS) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) Score were obtained for clinical outcomes evaluation and X-rays of antero-posterior and frog-leg lateral views of bilateral hips were compared for radiological outcomes assessment.ResultsAll patients were telephone contacted for out-patient clinic return visit at an average follow-up time of 53.3 months (ranged from 20 months to 107 months). Of the 18 patients (15 men and 3 women), there were 5 patients were diagnosed preoperative IIB stages according to classification of the Association Research Circulation Osseuse classification (ARCO) and the remaining 13 patients were in ARCO IIIC stages. The mean age of the included patients was 40.7 years (range from 22 to 59 years). No age and followed-up time difference existed in genders. The postoperative HHS were 83.8 ± 17.9 points, and it revealed statistical significance when compared to preoperative 61.6 ± 17.0 points (p < 0.05). The VAS scores were reduced from preoperative 6.2 ± 2.0 points to postoperative 2.8 ± 2.3 points, which also manifested outcomes significance (p < 0.05). From radiological aspects, 14 patients acquired well repairmen of the necrotic areas of the femoral head. However, the other 4 patients ultimately suffered femoral head collapse, and the severe pain was gotten rid of after THA surgeries were performed.ConclusionsThe un-collapsed hip can achieve biological stability and sufficient blood supply through the hip-preserving surgery and obtain longtime repairmen of the necrotic bone as well as early non-weight-bearing function training, which benefits from distributing the whole body weight load to the hip of one-stage THA. Consequently, we recommend this sort of surgery for clinical practice trial when faced bilateral ONFH in different stages though longer time follow-up and larger samples are essentially needed to address its efficacy.

Highlights

We aimed to evaluate the clinical and radiological short-medium term outcomes for the treatment of bilateral osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) with hip-preserving surgery of core decompression followed by tightly impaction bone grafting combining with non-vascularized fibular allografting in one hip and concurrent one-stage total hip arthroplasty (THA) in the contralateral side
Core decompression had been demonstrated, to some extent, successful for the treatment of ONFH when patients were in Steinberg [12] 0, I and II stages, while this sort of surgery must be strictly prohibited when the femoral head collapsed and degenerative cartilage occurred in late Steinberg stage [10]
We studied a consecutive series of 36 hips in 18 bilateral ONFH patients who had undergone hip-preserving surgery of core decompression followed by tightly impaction bone grafting combining with non-vascularized fibular allografting in one hip and one-stage THA surgery in the contralateral hip which was performed by one same surgeon at our orthopedic department (The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Province, China) between July 2004 and June 2013

Summary

Introduction

We aimed to evaluate the clinical and radiological short-medium term outcomes for the treatment of bilateral osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) with hip-preserving surgery of core decompression followed by tightly impaction bone grafting combining with non-vascularized fibular allografting in one hip and concurrent one-stage total hip arthroplasty (THA) in the contralateral side. Non-traumatic osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is a relatively common disorder and mostly affect young patients It exacerbates fast when receive no timely treatment, subchondral fracture and collapse of the femoral head may be occurred and total hip arthroplasty (THA) is required [1,2,3]. Numerous hip-preserving surgeries for young patients have been proposed with varying successful rates, such as core compression, osteotomies, vascularized or non-vascularized fibular grafting combined with implantation of autologous mesenchymal stem cells, free iliac flap autografting and vascularized greater trochanter bone grafting, and etc. Vascularised greater trochanter bone grafting had been reported can achieve good clinical and radiography results, but it required long length incision and complete weight-bearing is forbidden as long as at least 1 year [14]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion