AVASCULAR NECROSIS OF BONE IN HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS INFECTION AND ANTIPHOSPHOLIPID ANTIBODIES

We describe 3 cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected pat ients with antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) in serum who developed av ascular necrosis (AVN), an association that to our knowledge, has rare ly been described. Given that the 3 patients had stopped their intrave nous drug addiction 2 years before the clinical picture appeared, and none had any known risk factors for developing AVN, there may be an as sociation, perhaps fortuitous, between HIV infection, the presence of aPL and the development of AVN.