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

Prognosis of post-saRs femoral necrosis bone marrow edema, thus reducing bone pressure, venous drainage and microcirculation. Moreover, hyperbaric oxygen can also stimulate vessel angiogenesis and the function of osteoblast and osteoclast cells, thus providing necessary pre-conditions for treating ONFH. Koren et al performed an 11.1±5.1-year follow-up study and indicated that hyperbaric oxygen was 1 effective method for treating Phase I and Phase II ONFH. 21 It is still debatable about the effects of single usage of hyperbaric oxygen to treat post-SARS ONFH. Wu et al 22 performed a follow-up on Phase I ONFH of SARS patients and reported that hyperbaric oxygen cannot effectively impede or reverse progression of Phase I ONFH after SARS, while Qiu and Zhang 3 attributed hyperbaric oxygen to be a satisfactory method for treating post-SARS ONFH. This study performed regular combined treatment consisting of alendronate drug, extracorporeal shock wave and hyperbaric oxygen. By 12-year long-term follow-up, some patients showed clinical improvement of ONFH, while most patients showed retardation of disease progression or even reversion. By statistical analysis of VAS and Harris score before and after treatment, we found significant differences (p,0.05). Therefore, we believe that long-term treatment of combined therapy including alendronate drug, extracorporeal shock wave and hyperbaric oxygen could effectively retard ONFH progression, alleviate patient's clinical symptoms and improve hip joint function, thus decreasing the risk of surgery on post-SARS ONFH patients.