Aseptic osteonecrosis of acetabulum following prosthetic replacement of the femoral head. A case report.

Acetabular osteonecrosis is a rare condition. Only five cases with histological analysis have been reported in the literature, and these patients had previously received radiotherapy. The 67-year-old woman reported on here, who had had no major systemic disorder or local radiotherapy, and who had never consumed alcohol, developed aseptic osteonecrosis of the acetabulum after femoral head replacement with a cemented Austin-Moore prosthesis for aseptic osteonecrosis of the femoral head following femoral neck fracture. The necrosis was found during surgery to go so deeply into each bone composing the acetabulum that the hip joint could not be revised, and we had to perform a Girdlestone resection arthroplasty. The radiographic and histological findings resembled those reported in cases of aseptic osteonecrosis of the acetabulum after radiotherapy.