STERILE OSTEONECROSIS IN 2 PATIENTS WITH INFLAMMATORY BOWEL-DISEASE

Aseptic osteonecrosis is a rare extraintestinal manifestation in patie nts with inflammatory bowel disease; its true prevalence is not precis ely known. Steroid treatment undoubtedly participates in the pathophys iology of avascular osteonecrosis, however; other factors like hyperco agulability may be involved Two cases of bilateral osteonecrosis of th e knees - the first occurring during the course of ulcerative colitis, the second lit a patient presenting with Crohn's disease - are descri bed Specific location of the lesions and regression of symptoms, as we ll as the importance of magnetic resonance imaging for early recogniti on of osteonecrosis, are noteworthy.