Early stages of Avascular Necrosis

Hi @billv123, welcome to Connect.
According to this info from Mayo Clinic http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/avascular-necrosis/basics/treatment/con-20025517, early stage avascular necrosis symptoms can be reduced with medication and therapy.

I'm tagging members @sma1952 @sebley12 @guener on this message to see if they may have more information to offer based on their experience with AVN.

Bill, have you noticed any improvement over the past 4 weeks?

I was diagnosed with AVN of the hip back in the fall of 2000. At the time there were fewer options for my diagnosis than perhaps today; while, at the same time, I was able to have a free vascularized fibular graft (bone graft) to avoid an artificial joint replacement at a young age (35). Sixteen years later, that joint is beginning to have trouble again, and tomorrow I go in to see about a total replacement. All in all I'm very happy with the surgery I had at the time, but I don't know about AVN in the knee and what you may face. I cannot take NSAID's (non-inflammatory drugs like aspirin, advil, etc.), so it's hard for me to deal with the pain for long periods of time without non weight bearing, so the surgery with a replacement is probably imminent for me. Best of luck with your treatment.

I was diagnosed in June 2015 with bursitis of the hip. My X-ray then showed Mild DJD. After months of physical therapy, pain management did not improve. In January I went to my ortho doctor who finally did a second set of X-rays found out my hip had collapsed. He ordered blood work and a cat scan. Was diagnosed with closed displaced fracture of medial wall of acetabulum
Avascular necrosis of right hip
Open right acetabular fracture
Closed fracture of right acetabulum. He referred me me to another surgeon who specialized in this in March 2016. Had hip aspiration and more blood work. Couldn't get any fluid from the aspiration and after 3 weeks I received a phone call from another surgeon telling me I had an appointment in Late March. . Checked with the second surgeon to find out why was told this one specialized in my case. For 9 months I was in extreme pain and by February 2016 I couldn't walk sit stand or lay. Saw the specialist he ordered an MRI and wanted to see me back in two weeks and scheduled me for a hip replacement. Went the following Wednesday for the MRI and couldn't lay for even 10 minutes. Called my Doctor the next day saw him the day after that he did more X-rays and finally admitted me. That night he ordered the MRI had me under sedation and next morning he did another hip aspiration under sedation also. They were looking for an infection because the hip had gotten so bad in such a short time. Finally had my surgery on April 12. Really didn't know what they were actually going to do yet because he wanted to do a biopsy first and then he would know how he would treat it. Supposedly biopsy came back negative and he did a total hip replacement. The following week I received a call to come down because one of the results showed I did have an infection. My incision was healing nicely no drainage and no pain. He told me my options about taking the hip out and putting in a stabilizer. He also said it could be a false positive too. Talked with infectious disease doctors and he thought the same. So far so good. My surgeon feels cautiously optimistic about it being false. Now if I ever have drainage or pain I am to call him. I feel that if my first surgeon took X-rays when he sent me for pain management he may have seen that my hip was worse then he thought. I feel that I lost ten months of my life because of it. My hip is pain free but I have severe scoliosis and am having trouble with that. Still am walking with a slight limp. Haven't returned back to work yet because I am still a bit unsteady. Do use a cane once in awhile. If they catch it early enough there are options to try. In my case they waited too long.

Thanks so much for the reply and information. I am only in my first week of total non weight bearing so time will tell. But generally when i was staying off the knee for mutiple days in would feel pretty good, a limp,. But if i had to be on my feet any day for a few hours , it would start to hurt to walk on it. Right now it feels good with no weight on it, i do get pain at rest at times, very sharp and very localized in area that ortho said the bone not getting blood flow,. Thanks again

Hi billv123. AVN, dies that stand for a vascular necrosis?<br><br>

Hi billv123. AVN, does t.hat mean vascular necrosis? I did not know you could have AVN in the knees.

Yes

Hi @billv123 - Hope you are progressing well following total non weight bearing. Definitely work closely with your ortho and express your concerns to them. They should have the expertise to discuss different treatment options with you and give you a prognosis based on your individual AVN. Many people consider getting a second opinion when surgery is suggested to get more information and give them more peace of mind, so when and if the time comes, that could be something to consider.