BONE GRAFTING ENHANCED BY PLATELET-RICH PLASMA IN TREATMENT OF AVASCULAR NECROSIS OF FEMORAL HEAD

Treatment of avascular necrosis of the femoral head is an issue of current interest while it affects young and employable people. So far there is no well-defined strategy of management which would help to postpone hip arthroplasty and further revision procedure. Hip sparing surgical treatment of avascular necrosis of the femoral head by bone grafting prior to head collapse proved to be a viable option not only during early stages of disease but also at advanced stages. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) addition to treatment plan potentially helps improving bone regeneration in situ.

In this article the authors present a case of a 37 years old patient with avascular necrosis of the femoral head at a fragmentation stage (type 4B by ARCO). The authors centrifuged 15 ml of autologous whole blood (1500 RPM) obtained by a special double-contoured syringe. During the surgical stage of treatment PRP and morselized bone graft were mixed to introduce and impact into the debrided zone of avascular necrosis. The authors also introduced 0.3–0.4 ml of PRP into the debrided zone of avascular necrosis after bone grafting. At 6 months follow-up CT images of the studied patient demonstrated signs of bone reorganization and no loss of femoral head sphericity. Preoperative Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Harris Hip Score (HHS) and Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS) prior to treatment were 60, 45 and 33 points respectively. Postoperative VAS, HHS and HOOS scores were 10, 78 and 78 respectively. In the authors’ opinion, impaction bone grafting enhanced by PRP helps obtaining good and excellent outcomes not only at early but also at advanced stages of avascular necrosis.