title: Combined tantalum implant with bone grafting for the treatment of osteonecrosis of the femoral head.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the short-term clinical outcome of using a tantalum implant in combination with bone grafting for the treatment of osteonecrosis of the femoral head.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-nine patients with 94 osteonecrotic hips were treated with this method from March 2006 to March 2011. All the patients were treated with tantalum rod implantation in combination with bone grafting, and were followed for an average 35.4 months. Harris hip score and the survival rate were analyzed according to stage, etiology, and osteonecrosis part.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with stage I and stage II diseases had significant greater Harris hip score improvement than patients having stage III disease (p < .05). The survival rate was also significantly higher in patients with stage I and stage II diseases than in patients having stage III disease (p < .05). Patients with type A and type B necrotic lesions had better recovery than patients with type C1 and type C2 having lateral column lesions (p < .05). No significant differences were detected in the clinical outcome among patients with different etiologies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Combined tantalum implant with bone grafting provided good short-term clinical outcomes for early stage I and stage II patients with type A and type B necrotic lesions. However, this treatment modality was not so effective for patients with stage III or type C1 and type C2 necrotic lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Joint Surgery, Tangshan No. 2 Hospital, Tangshan, China. gukelaoliu@yahoo.cn
authors.forename: Bingli
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Debo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.forename: Zirong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wanshou
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016025:Bone Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005271:Femur Head Necrosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D013635:Tantalum; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D013635:Tantalum