A 12-year follow-up study of combined treatment of post-severe acute respiratory syndrome patients with femoral head necrosis

Liu, Tiansheng; Ma, Jinchao; Su, Bin; Wang, Hao; Wang, Qi; Ma, Xinlong

All 37 patients (with 66 hips) were staged based on the ARCO guideline. Overall effective rate of 12-year treatment was calculated and compared among different stages. Those with enlarged necrosis volume ratio were identified as ineffective treatment, while those with unchanged or shrink volume ratio were designated as effective treatment. Among 36 hips of Stage I, effective rate was 91.67%; such figures, however, were 80.95% among 21 hips at Stage II, and only 55.56% within 9 hips at Stage III. The overall effective rate was 83.33%. Statistical analysis showed that combined therapy has different effectiveness treating femoral head necrosis at Stage I to Stage III, with the highest effective rate in Stage I patients (χ 2 =6.781, p,0.05). The improvements included the alleviation of pain and lameness and the partial recovery of hip joint functions, such as buckling and abduction. The analysis about volume ratio of femoral head bones based on MRI image indicated that enlarged volume ratio presented ineffective treatment. It can effectively delay ONFH progression after SARS treatment ( Figure 1A-F) . Among all follow-up patients, 1 of them received left artificial hip joint replacement after 5 years ( Figure 2 ); 2 patients presented digestive tract symptoms.