| Abstract: | Objective To ascertain the coexistence of osteoarthritis and osteoporosis in the femoral head. Methods During total hip replacement for osteoarthritis of hip joint in 12 female patients with an average age of 56 years, the femoral heads were procured. After processing the femoral had, specimens were studied under scanning electron microscope. Results Different degrees of osteoarthritic lesions (characterized by degeneration of articular cartilage and hyperplasia of subchondral bone tissues) could coexust with osteoporotic lesions (characterized by icicle-like trabeculae ) in the femoral had. The hyperplas- tic bone tissues of osteoarthritis lay in the vicinity of icicle-like trabeculae. However, they did not care into contact, nor did they exert influence on each other. Coexistence of these two different lesions covered a brood territory extending from the deep surface of subchondral bone plate to the head-neck junction of femoral head. Conclusion The results suggest that osteoarthritis and osteoporosis do coexist in the femoral head. |
