[Ossovenography as a diagnostic criterion of post-traumatic femoral head necrosis in internal fixation devices].

Despite advances in the field of orthopedic surgery, necrosis of the femoral head still remains a serious problem. Under normal conditions magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) is the gold standard for early diagnosis. Because of magnetic interference, this technique is not applicable in the diagnosis of posttraumatic necrosis with internal fixation, however. This seems to be an ideal indication for ossovenography: contrast medium is injected into the femoral head under X-ray control and the venous flow is documented. Furthermore, it is possible to get histological samples from suspicious areas. Ossovenography was performed in 12 patients and the results were compared with histological samples. In every patient in whom necrosis of the femoral head was diagnosed by ossovenography (91.6%), we also found necrosis on histological examination. In one patient in whom physiological flow was found, there was a corresponding absence of necrosis in the histological sample. There were no complications during ossovenography. The results suggest that ossovenography is a promising and reliable method for early diagnosis of necrosis of the femoral head in the presence of internal fixation devices.