Avascular necrosis (osteonecrosis)
Avascular necrosis is a quite painful and rare condition that might affect any joint in your body in young to middle-aged elder people. It happens in the hip when the supply of blood to the ball at the end of your thigh bone is lost. This might give rise to the bone dying and your ball collapsing which occurs in arthritis. This might be a temporary or permanent loss of blood flow. Sometimes the treatment of steroids, for illnesses such as asthma or cancer might give rise to avascular necrosis as a side effect. Alternatively, you might have a quite bad fracture that impacts the blood flow to the end of your bone. This blood flow loss gives rise to the tissues and bones around it slowly dying.
Also, altering the shape of the ball at the bone end and making your hip stiff and painful. It might lead to the ball in the joint collapsing which occurs in arthritis. It is sometimes referred to as idiopathic which means that it does not have any proper cause. Therefore, it is linked with the following points:
- Radiotherapy
- Drinking a lot of alcohol
- Sickle cell disease (an inherited situation that inhibits red blood cells from carrying the oxygen by the body completely and properly)
- Long-term usage of high doses of corticosteroids, like prednisone
If your healthcare provider thinks that you are having avascular necrosis, they must suggest an urgent MRI scan to make sure of the diagnosis. As soon as you are having a diagnosis, you might begin the treatment that might stop the situation from leading to any more harm and stopping you from having arthritis.