Treatment of Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head by Bone Marrow Transplantation
Treatment of Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head by Bone Marrow Transplantation
Aseptic non traumatic osteonecrosis (ON) is a painful disorder of the hip which often leads,
 in its final stage, to femoral head collapse and subsequent total hip replacement. Core
 decompression of the hip is the most widespread procedure used to treat early stage ON of the
 femoral head. Notwithstanding the fact that this procedure has been employed for more than
 three decades (2), its efficacy remains controversial (3;4). Recently, one suggested that ON
 might be a disease of bone cells and/or of mesenchymal cells. The levels of activity and the
 number of mesenchymal stem cells in both the hematopoietic and in the stromal compartments of
 the bone marrow have been shown to be depressed in patients with ON of the femoral head (9).
 The investigators have showed previously that the capacity of osteoblastic cells to replicate
 was decreased in the proximal femur of patients with ON of the femoral head (10). This
 finding raised the possibility that bone marrow containing stromal cells which have many of
 the characteristics of stem cell for mesenchymal tissues including bone could be implanted
 into the necrotic lesion of the femoral head.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  ARCO stage 1 or 2 osteonecrosis of the femoral head

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  The investigators excluded patients with evidence of a malignant disorder during the
 past five years.