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Official Journal of the Italian Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology

Rapid resolution of femoral head osteonecrosis after rotational acetabular osteotomy

Abstract

The natural history of osteonecrosis of the femoral head is generally thought to be one of progressive deterioration if no intervention is undertaken. However, it is unknown whether surgical intervention is beneficial for patients with a small region of osteonecrosis. We observed rapid improvement of MRI findings after rotational acetabular osteotomy (RAO) was performed in a young patient with osteonecrosis of the femoral head. The band-like low signal area on T2-weighted images almost resolved by six months after surgery. He returned to work as an electrician by six months after surgery. Early surgical intervention such as RAO that alters the mechanical force acting on the necrotic region of the femoral head may accelerate the recovery of osteonecrosis and the improvement of symptoms.

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Correspondence to Masahiko Nozawa.

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Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Nozawa, M., Matsuda, K., Maezawa, K. et al. Rapid resolution of femoral head osteonecrosis after rotational acetabular osteotomy. J Orthopaed Traumatol 9, 221–224 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10195-008-0032-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10195-008-0032-4

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