Ovidiu Alexa, Dan Cionca, Samir Albetar and Bogdan Veliceasa
Spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee presents with acute onset of severe pain in elderly patients, usually females, without a history of trauma. Originally described as idiopathic osteonecrosis, the exact etiology is still debated. Evidence suggests that an acute fracture occurs as a result of chronic stress or minor trauma to a weakened subchondral bone plate. We report one case of spontaneous osteonecrosis of medial femoral condyle in a 71-year-old female with no evidence of trauma involving a 4 cm weight bearing surface. According to Koshino this case can be classified as stage II. Various types of treatment have been reported, including conservative treatment with physical exercise and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, arthroscopy alone, arthroscopy and drilling, valgus high tibial osteotomy, and total knee arthroplasty. Total knee arthroplasty was considered the appropriate management strategy in this case.
PDFShare this article
Journal of Surgery received 288 citations as per Google Scholar report
