Avascular Necrosis
Avascular Necrosis (Osteonecrosis) Surgeon in Delray Beach, FL
Keeping you moving forward
Avascular necrosis is a disease that most commonly affects the femoral head or ball of the ball and socket hip joint. It may less commonly affect the knee joint but may also occur in other bones. Avascular necrosis is a disease where the blood supply has been disrupted and the area of bone that the blood went to has been cut off and eventually dies.
Hip avascular necrosis can be caused by a number of different factors. It can be caused from trauma or fractures, blood clotting diseases, use of steroids, alcohol abuse, HIV, and a number of other reasons. The most common reason is called idiopathic in which the doctor does not know the cause.
There are several treatments for avascular necrosis but they depend on the stage of the disease. Dr. Zavoyski is able to treat avascular necrosis of the hip and knee as he is a fellowship trained subspecialist in hip and knee procedures for avascular necrosis.
Avascular necrosis can be treated with a medication if caught early. However, the medications are not always effective and may require a small surgery called a core decompression. If the disease continues to progress to where the ball collapses the patient may require a total hip replacement.
IF you have been diagnosed with avascular necrosis of the hip or knee make an appointment with Dr. Zavoyski for an evaluation as the treatment needs to be started quickly if the ball has not collapsed.
If the disease is in the later stages, Dr. Zavoyski can also treat this with conservative measures but most people will eventually require a total hip replacement.
Patients with avascular necrosis should seek out the care of a fellowship trained adult reconstruction or total hip and knee specialist to best care for this condition.
