Osteonecrosis of the femoral head after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

A comparative retrospective analysis of 100 consecutive patients after bone marrow transplantation was performed with magnetic resonance imaging in ad dition to plain radiography for the development of osteonecrosis of the fem oral head. The incidence and risk factors for osteonecrosis of the femoral head were identified, comparing various parameters concerning bone marrow t ransplantation between the groups with and without evidence of osteonecrosi s. Nineteen (19%) of 100 patients had osteonecrosis of the femoral head dev elop. Four factors were found to be statistically significantly different b etween patients who had osteonecrosis develop and those who did not: younge r age at the time of bone marrow transplantation, chronic graft-versus-host disease, cumulative dose of steroid, and intravenous pulse therapy with me thylprednisolone. It was concluded that a low rate of complications and low dose steroid administration would reduce the incidence of osteonecrosis af ter hone marrow transplantation.