Bone Biopsy as Diagnostic Criteria for Aseptic Necrosis of the Femoral Head

Aseptic osteonecrosis of the femoral head, post-traumatic or not, is a disease that can lead to destruction of the hip. The principal diagnostic criteria are classically the radiological findings of a crescent sign (Norman et al., 1963) or collapse of the femoral head (Griffith, 1986; Jacobs, 1978; Jones, 1985). In the radiologically silent stages of the disease, other diagnostic procedures were proposed such as radionuclide uptake study (Alavi, 1977), intraosseous phlebography (Hulth, 1970), intramedullary pressure (Arlet et al., 1968) and more recently magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (Moon et al., 1983). However the reference criteria were always the histological findings obtained after resection of the head or by biopsy.