title: Unusual osteonecrosis of the femoral head misdiagnosed as a stress fracture.
abstract: We report a case of femoral head osteonecrosis that originally was misdiagnosed as a femoral neck stress fracture by plain radiography and magnetic resonance imaging. The correct diagnosis was made using pinhole bone scintigraphy, which revealed a completely cold lesion of the entire femoral head, confirmed by histologic examination. The patient was treated with muscle pedicle bone grafting, and 3 months postoperatively, pinhole bone scintigraphy showed improved vascularity of the femoral head.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Chonnam National University Hospital, 8 Hak Dong, Gwangju 501-757, Korea. tryoon@chonnam.ac.kr
authors.forename: Taek Rim
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Sung Man
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.forename: Eun Kyoo
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Dicky
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mulyadi
mesh_terms: D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005264:Femoral Fractures / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005271:Femur Head Necrosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D015775:Fractures, Stress / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D014463:Ultrasonography