Risk factors
- Hyperuricemia (too high uric acid levels in the blood)Please also see our topic: Gout
- Alcohol and nicotine abuse
- Hyperlipidemia (too high blood lipids)
Clinic
The clinical symptoms of femoral head necrosis are restricted movement with intermittent pain. The symptoms often change due to stress and irritation of the joint. The pain can accumulate in the groin and buttocks and radiate into the thigh or knee, resulting in running-in, running-in and stress pain. In more advanced stages, resting and lower back pain can also occur.
Stages of femoral head necrosis
There are four stages of femoral head necrosis in total.They differentiate how far the femoral head necrosis has already progressed and how much the bone has been degraded by the disease. This classification of femoral head necrosis into stages helps physicians to differentiate and generalize the different processes and degrees of severity.
- In the first stage of femoral head necrosis, small areas of the femoral head are no longer supplied with blood properly, and thus no longer properly supplied with nutrients.
This first stage of femoral head necrosis is also called early stage and is often not accompanied by any noticeable symptoms.
- In the second stage of femoral head necrosis, the bone is remodeled and restructured due to the reduced blood supply. This can often be clearly seen on an X-ray.
- In stage 3 of femoral head necrosis, the joint surface collapses more and more because the bone has become unstable due to the remodelling processes and can no longer hold the body’s load properly. At this stage at the latest, the patient experiences symptoms with sometimes severe pain and restrictions in the freedom of movement of the hip joint.
- One speaks of the last/4th stage of femoral head necrosis when the femoral head is completely deformed and as such is no longer properly recognizable. This division of femoral head necrosis into stages is important for the diagnosis used as well as for the therapeutic options.
