Conservative treatment of avascular necrosis of the femoral head (literature review)

Introduction Avascular necrosis of the femoral head is a debilitating disease affecting people of working age and having an important medical and social role. Total hip arthroplasty is the only effective treatment for late stages of necrosis. Various joint-preserving operations and non-surgical methods can be successfully used for less severe types. There is no unequivocal opinion on the effectiveness of various conservative treatments offered for avascular necrosis of the femoral head. The aim was to summarize data on the role of medications and physiotherapy in treatment of avascular necrosis of the femoral head through the analysis of the modern world literature. Material and methods The original literature search was conducted on key resources including elibrary, PubMed and ResearchGate. Results Outcomes of avascular necrosis of the femoral head treated conservatively were overviewed. The effectiveness of various treatments using bisphosphonates, anticoagulants, statins, prostacyclin derivatives was evaluated. Physiotherapy with shock wave therapy, pulsating electromagnetic fields, and hyperbaric oxygenation was also reviewed. Conservative treatment is reported to be effective only for early (pre-collapse) stages of avascular necrosis of the femoral head. Conclusions A conservative treatment used as a monotherapy for AVN cannot be assessed as a standalone procedure because various combinations of comprehensive treatment are used for the majority of patients. There are no studies in the literature comparing the effectiveness of conservative therapies using iloprost and statins, bisphosphonates and anticoagulants, shockwave and hyperbaric oxygen therapy in homogeneous patient samples. A deeper study of the underlying pathogenesis of avascular necrosis of the femoral head is required to develop personalized treatment strategies.