What causes avascular necrosis of the humerus?
What causes avascular necrosis of the humerus?
Avascular necrosis of the shoulder occurs when a region of bone dies as the result of loss of its blood supply. The condition can be caused by a number of things including trauma, the use of corticosteroids, excessive alcohol consumption and as a result of some disease states.
What is avascular necrosis of humerus?
Avascular necrosis of the shoulder is a condition characterized by interruption of blood supply to the humeral head which may lead to humeral head sclerosis and subchondral collapse.
Does surgery cure avascular necrosis?
There is no cure for avascular necrosis, but if it’s diagnosed early using X-rays or MRI, nonsurgical treatments such as activity modification, anti-inflammatory medications, injections, and physical therapy may slow its progression. Because avascular necrosis is a progressive condition, it often requires surgery.
What is osteonecrosis of the humeral head?
Osteonecrosis of the humeral head is a condition where a portion of the bone of the humeral head (the top of the humerus or upper arm bone) loses its blood supply, dies and collapses. Another term used for osteonecrosis is avascular necrosis.
Is AVN curable without surgery?
The use of stem cells in treating AVN is a promising minimally-invasive, non-surgical treatment option to halt the progression of the disease and heal the dead tissue. Stem cell therapy for avascular necrosis helps to avoid total hip arthroplasty surgery.
How quickly does avascular necrosis progress?
AVN has four stages that can progress over a period of several months to more than a year. In Stage I, the hip is healthy; in Stage II, the patient experiences mild pain in direct proportion to the deterioration of the head of the femur (or ball of the hip joint).
Can a partial replacement of the humeral head relieve the symptoms?
A partial replacement of the humeral head relieved his symptoms and he returned to work as a truck driver. This 42 year old woman developed AVN after a fracture (figure on the left) and underwent a replacement of the humeral head (hemiarthroplasty) as shown in the figure in the middle.
How is the humeral head affected by AVN?
Then normal joint is shown on the left with a round humeral head (ball) on a concave glenoid (socket). With AVN the blood supply to the ball is damaged and a segment of the humeral head may collapse (arrows in images on the right).
What happens when the shoulder humeral head suffers a stroke?
Avascular Necrosis: When the Shoulder Humeral Head Suffers a Stroke. Most of us know what happens in a heart attack or in a stroke: the blood supply to a segment of the heart or brain gets clogged, leading to tissue damage.