Avascular Necrosis / AVN / Osteonecrosis

What Is Avascular Necrosis

Avascular necrosis ("AVN") is a disease resulting from the temporary or permanent loss of the blood supply to the bones. Without blood, the bone and tissue surrounding it dies, which causes the bone to deteriorate, often leading to collapse of a joint. AVN is also known as osteonecrosis, ischemic necrosis, and aseptic necrosis, strikes both men and women and affects people of all ages. It is most common among people in their thirties and forties.

Who gets it?
There are common causes of AVN, such as fracture or dislocation of the femur (thigh bone) which results in injury to the blood circulation, leading to trauma-related AVN. Studies suggest that this type of AVN may develop in more than 20 percent of people who dislocate their hip joint.

In addition, thrombi or emboli (blood clots), inflammation, and damage to or narrowing of the arteries (from fat droplets) which block the blood supply to the hip joint cause AVN. Increased pressure within the bone also is associated with AVN - the pressure within the bone causes the blood vessels to narrow, making it hard for the vessels to deliver enough blood to the bone cells.

Studies now show that there is an increased incidence of AVN seen in people who chronically use steroids (such as prednisone) which are commonly used to treat diseases in which there is inflammation, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and vasculitis. Long-term, systemic (oral or intravenous) steroid use is associated with 35% of all cases of non-traumatic avascular necrosis.

However, there is no known risk of AVN associated with the limited use of steroids. Doctors are not exactly sure why the use of steroids sometimes leads to AVN; they may interfere with the body’s ability to break down fatty substances which in turn build up and clog the blood vessels, causing them to narrow, which reduces the amount of blood that gets to the bone.

Excessive alcohol use and steroid use are two of the most common causes of non-traumatic AVN. In people who drink an excessive amount of alcohol, fatty substances may block blood vessels causing a decreased blood supply to the bones, resulting in AVN.

Other risk factors or conditions associated with non-traumatic AVN include Gaucher’s disease, pancreatitis, radiation treatments, chemotherapy, decompression disease, and blood disorders such as sickle cell disease.

Treatment:
Allopathy: No much can be done with allopathic drugs.
Homeopathy: You may try homeopathic medication. There are about 150 remedies which have some similimum to the symptoms of AVN
Acupuncture : is worth of trying and it help to built up the immune systme in the body - 'to balance yin and yang' as the Chinese Physician says.