Abstract
Femoral head osteonecrosis is a disease characterized by the decrease of blood vascularization in the femoral head, which leads to death of the osteocytes, demineralization and resorption of bone spans, change of trabecular architecture, with the reduction of the bone mechanical resistance and collapse of the articular surface in the femoral head. Left untreated, the disease may have a rapid progression, leading to severe symptoms, with significant articular dysfunction, functional impotence and a serious impact on the patient's quality of life. The prevalence of the disease is ever growing all over the world, affecting mainly people in their 30s, 40s or 50s. In the present study, we analyzed a number of 76 patients with femoral head osteonecrosis with severe symptoms that required a surgical treatment. There was observed that more than ¾ of the investigated patients were males, while 81.58% were younger than 60 years old. Among the identified risk factors, smoking came first, followed by alcohol intake, obesity and chronic administration of corticosteroids. A very high percentage of patients (84.21%) were diagnosed in stages III and IV of the disease.