Osteonecrosis of the femoral head caused by bone marrow blockage: a case report

A Nishimura, M Hasegawa, A Sudo, A Uchida
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsu City, Mie, Japan

Interruption of the blood flow may occur in intra-osseous arteries within the femoral head. We report a 72-year-old woman who developed osteonecrosis of the femoral head 11 months after surgery involving massive cementing of a segmental distal femoral rotating hinge prosthesis to treat nonunion of the distal femur. The bone cement filled the cavity up to the femoral neck and the superolateral portion of the femoral head, blocking the bone marrow.