Avascular Necrosis of the Hip - Free Essay Sample

Avascular Necrosis of the bone is identified as a condition that is painful which occurs as a result of the supply of blood to the head of the thighbone getting disrupted. The research shows that all bones require a steady blood supply to keep them healthy since avascular necrosis of the hip can destroy the hip joint and also severe arthritis. Avascular necrosis of the hip is also mentioned to as osteonecrosis or aseptic necrosis. This problem is known to occur in any bone, but it is highly associated with affecting the hip bone. The records show that a quite large number of people which is almost 20,000 are treated in the hospitals suffering osteonecrosis which in most cases affects the hip bone (Mont, Cherian, Sierra, Jones & Lieberman, 2015). This is a record of each year whereby most people are found having their hips being affected by this disease. There are also some cases whereby both hipbones appear to be affected by this painful disease. The Osteonecrosis is caused by disruption of the blood supply which takes place in the femoral head. When this hip bone lacks proper nourishment the administrator of this particular bone dies and finally collapses causing the articular cartilage to collapse also, and the results are that arthritis is disabled. Avascular Necrosis of the hip does not affect any specific people, and therefore anyone can suffer from it even though people who are between 40 to 65 years are at a high risk of suffering from it. The disease is highly prevalent in men than in women. Apart from the inadequate blood supply to the hip bone, other several risks factors cause the osteonecrosis development to people. This disease can develop as a result of an injury on the hip bone that may cause the hip to fracture or even become dislocated since these results to the blood vessels being highly damaged disrupting the blood circulation in the head of the femoral bone. Use of excessive alcohol over a long period results to form of fatty deposits interfering with the blood vessels causing the decreased blood supply to the hips.

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Symptoms

There are several symptoms of osteonecrosis disease since it occurs in different development stages. The first symptom of this particular disease is typically the hip pain which may result in throbbing pain on the buttocks area, dull ache or in the groin. After some time to disease progression, it even becomes harder for a person to stand or also try to put any weight on the hip bone. It even becomes more than painful when one tries to move the affected hip joint. Generally, for this disease to progress, it might take quite some months or even one year, and it is therefore very crucial for people to get diagnosed with this disease at its early stage since several studies show that every first treatment is highly associated with a favorable outcome. This disease occurs in several steps which are four in number (Cluett, 2018). The patients might keep on complaining due to having difficulty while walking and they may end up limping. Two methods are used in diagnosing the osteonecrosis which includes the use of MRIs and X-rays. These two methods help to display the complete damage on the hip bone that is caused by this painful disease. MRIs test is used in testing the early signs of Osteonecrosis disease which may not be discovered through the use of X-ray methods. The later stages of the disease can only clearly be identified through using X-rays, and therefore MRIs test is no longer used during these later stages of the disease. After the discovery is made the active treatment is administered for instance where the hip is wholly damaged surgical treatment is carried out creating a full replacement of the hip bone through several procedures.

Treatments

The treatment of hip osteonecrosis appears to be a bit difficult since the problem is known to progress in a quick manner despite all means of intervention that may be involved. During the early stages of this disease, anti-inflammatory medications are essential, and therefore they are required to be used. There are also some surgical options that can be applied in the early stages of this disease that includes bone grafting and hip decompression (Cluett, 2018). The process of incorporating hip decompression is to relieve any pressure that is increased that might occur on the head of femoral which leads to decreased blood flow to the hip bone. Hip decompression is carried out in an operating room with the patient made to sleep. This process involves the drilling of tiny holes into the hip osteonecrosis area to relieve the pressure that may occur on the femoral head. Another type of treatment for hip Osteonecrosis is the vascularized bone graft.

This is a process whereby the healthy bone is generally moved to the part of the lower leg placing this on Osteonecrosis area. Various surgeons have attempted experimenting other surgical methods for hip Osteonecrosis such as synthetic grafts and cadaver bone which works as stimulation for healing the femoral head. All these treatments are usually carried out during the early stages of this particular disease (Cluett, 2018). There are some cases which occurs during the late phase of hip Osteonecrosis whereby the cartilage occurs to have already collapsed, and the surgical methods that are carried out during the early stages may appear to be ineffective. The most popular type of treatment on the hip Osteonecrosis is known as total hip replacement surgical method. This is the best method especially when the hip is damaged whereby the cartilage has entirely collapsed. Hip resurfacing surgery in another treatment that is used in hip Osteonecrosis and it appear to be similar in some way with the standard hip replacement which is used to remove the less healthy bone.

Prognosis

The fracture of femoral beck brings many risks based on the functional forecast concerning the young patients, and this becomes a life-threatening incidence when it comes to the elderly stage. Various studies display the dangers of hip osteonecrosis and work towards adapting specific treatments that may avoid any future surgical method in treating the disease (Farook, Awogbade, Somasundaram, Reichert & Li, 2019). One of the techniques incorporated is the femoral head vascularity contributing to the blood supply to the femoral head. Fractures are mainly taken as the leading cause of necrosis by causing the vascular lesions. Other factors may include extreme positioning of the lower part either when being rotated or extended which might occur during surgery. The death of the femoral head is as a result of repairing process on the bone that is gotten from the nearby bones and not as a result of dead cells.

Recent Research

The recent research based on avascular necrosis has displayed much information about the disease whereby it is taken as a pathologic condition which consists of various underlying causes which make the femur head to collapse hence need for arthroplasty. The AVN is usually presented to be painless during the early stage with no symptoms and also nonspecific signs even though the pain tends to develop continuously with a limited hip motion that is profound. The prevalence of AVN is not that clear even though the USA has been giving different cases after the diagnosis of the disease. The examples usually range from 10000-20000 which are always new, and the surgical treatments are quite expensive to the patients (Jones & Mont, 2017). For instance, in Japan, there are quite several new cases that are registered annually which might vary between 2500-3000. The recent studies reveal that the number of patients suffering from hip osteonecrosis in highly increasing across the whole world. The increase in the patients suffering from this disease is a result of increased use of corticosteroids and increased alcohol consumption concerning having local trauma of high incidence. The increased life expectancy among the people suffering from the disease results to many patients diagnosed with the disease. The early detection of this disease through the use of MRIs results to many patients suffering from this painful disease. The recent research also shows that several treatments methods have been discovered in treating the disease. The hip osteonecrosis disease poses a lot of risks to the patients and the society at large, and therefore it is advisable to be treated at its early stage.

References

Cluett, J. (2018). Hip Osteonecrosis Symptoms and Treatment. Retrieved from https://www.verywellhealth.com/hip-osteonecrosis-2549681

Jones, L. C., & Mont, M. A. (2017). Advances in Diagnosis and Treatment of Osteonecrosis of the Hip. The Journal of Hip Surgery, 1(01), 002-002.

Farook, M. Z., Awogbade, M., Somasundaram, K., Reichert, I. L., & Li, P. L. (2019). Total hip arthroplasty in osteonecrosis secondary to sickle cell disease. General orthopedics, 43(2), 293-298.

Mont, M. A., Cherian, J. J., Sierra, R. J., Jones, L. C., & Lieberman, J. R. (2015). Nontraumatic Osteonecrosis of the femoral head: where do we stand today?: A ten-year update. JBJS, 97(19), 1604-1627.