Role of plain radiograph versus MRI in avascular necrosis of femoral head

Abstract

Background: Avascular necrosis of the femoral head (AVN) is an increasingly common cause of musculoskeletal disability, and it poses a major diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Although patients are initially asymptomatic, AVN usually progresses to joint destruction, usually before the fifth decade. Aims and Objectives: To study role of plain radiograph versus MRI in Avascular Necrosis of Femoral head. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study carried out in the patients clinically suspected of avascular necrosis of femur at tertiary health care centre during the one year period i.e. January 2018 to January 2019 during the one year period there were 37 patients suspected of avascular necrosis of Femur The sensitivity and specificity was calculated by ROC curves from the medcal software.Result: In our study we have seen that the sensitivity (Sn)and Specificity (Sp) for X-ray and MRI respectively for various stages was For STAGE Iwas34.29, 29.12and98.45,95.12 ;forSTAGE IIwas 75.12,68.23 and 99.17,98.27;forSTAGE III98.56,93.12and99.69,98.36;forSTAGE IV99.34,92.19and100,99.19 . Conclusion: It can be concluded from our study that in the early stages of disease MRI was highly sensitive and specific as compared to plain X-ray hence MRI should be preferred over the plain X-ray in the confirmation and early surgical intervention if any.