Confusion about femoral head necrosis: the truth about patient coping and treatment

Author: Liu Weilu, attending physician at Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University

Reviewer: Wang Jian, Chief Physician, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University

Femoral head necrosis is a common bone disease that brings many troubles to patients. For patients with femoral head necrosis, this is undoubtedly a difficult challenge.

1. What should patients do if they suffer from femoral head necrosis?

1. Patients should have an optimistic and confident attitude. Femoral head necrosis is not a malignant tumor and will not endanger life. The biggest problem for patients is pain. The worst result of the disease is limited hip joint movement and inability to walk. Although femoral head necrosis is irreversible, timely and reasonable treatment can greatly delay the progression of femoral head necrosis. Even if the disease develops to the late stage, joint replacement can still be used to restore hip joint function and enable patients to return to normal life.

Figure 1 Copyright image, no permission to reprint

2. Don't rush to seek medical treatment. Some patients lack a correct understanding of femoral head necrosis, and are therefore afraid and anxious, and even refuse to cooperate with the doctor's treatment, or believe in unverified "secret recipes", which delays treatment.

3. Eliminate the cause of the disease, such as quitting smoking and drinking, go to a regular hospital and follow the doctor's advice to use hormone drugs reasonably. Elderly patients should also prevent sprains and falls.

4. Control your weight, reduce weight, and use crutches scientifically.

5. Receive reasonable, standardized individualized treatment based on the doctor’s assessment of the disease staging and condition.

2. Can femoral head necrosis be cured?

The truth is: from the perspective of current medical development, femoral head necrosis is an irreversible disease, that is, there is currently no treatment in the world that can reverse the necrotic bone to its state before the onset of the disease.

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At present, the treatment methods for femoral head necrosis are to delay or prevent further necrosis of the femoral head. Therefore, some informal medical institutions claim that they can cure femoral head necrosis, and patients should not believe it easily. There are many real examples among the patients treated by the author clinically. After spending hundreds of thousands of yuan, there was still no effect, and finally went to a regular hospital for hip replacement. Not only did the patient suffer huge economic losses, but the treatment opportunity was also delayed, and the effect of the operation may also be affected. Although femoral head necrosis cannot be completely cured, standardized treatment can allow patients to return to normal work and life. Patients with early femoral head necrosis receive appropriate treatment, which can achieve the purpose of relieving pain, preventing the disease from progressing, and basically restoring the hip joint function to normal. Late-stage patients can also return to work and life after hip replacement.

3. Can femoral head necrosis in adults heal itself through rest?

Some patients may ask: "As the saying goes, 'It takes 100 days to heal a broken bone'. If you take 100 days to heal a broken bone, the bone will heal on its own. So can I also heal the necrotic femoral head and 'revive' it by taking care of it?"

The answer is no!

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The course of most femoral head necrosis is irreversible. It is different from falls and minor fractures. Once the bone is necrotic, it cannot regenerate, and it cannot heal by itself by "nurturing" alone. The hip joint is the main weight-bearing joint of the human body. Femoral head necrosis severely restricts human activities, affecting work and family life. If left alone and no standardized treatment measures are taken, there is a possibility of disability. Therefore, we must fully understand the harm of not treating it, and early treatment can minimize the harm. Some patients with femoral head necrosis will be very anxious once diagnosed, and they are prone to "seeking medical treatment in a hurry", and they will spend all their money to believe in some unproven folk remedies and secret recipes. Some patients with femoral head necrosis have redness, swelling and rotting of the skin at the hip joint due to the external use of "magic medicine" patches. Therefore, femoral head necrosis should not only be treated actively, but also standardized.