title: Italian experience on use of E.S.W. therapy for avascular necrosis of femoral head.
abstract: Osteonecrosis (avascular necrosis) of the femoral head is a clinical disease due to a severe bone vascular alteration associated with intense pain and loss of joint function, with an incidence of 0.1% and unknown aetiology. Many classifications exist to describe it and in the final stages the patient will need a total hip arthroplasty. In the early stages, ESWT has given excellent responses.  The Neapolitan school studied more than 600 patients who had very good results in I and II stages of Ficat and Arlet Classification, with an improve of outcomes in VAS and HSS scores. Moreover it has shown a complete restoration of the signal intensity of the femoral head in MRI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Orthopedic, Trauma and Micro-Surgery of the University of Naples Federico II, Italy. Electronic address: sergio.russo@unina.it.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Orthopedic, Trauma and Micro-Surgery of the University of Naples Federico II, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sadile
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Orthopedic, Trauma and Micro-Surgery of the University of Naples Federico II, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Esposito
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Orthopedic, Trauma and Micro-Surgery of the University of Naples Federico II, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mosillo
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Orthopedic, Trauma and Micro-Surgery of the University of Naples Federico II, Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aitanti
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Orthopedic, Trauma and Micro-Surgery of the University of Naples Federico II, Italy.
authors.forename: Gennaro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Busco
authors.affiliation: Center for Shockwave Medicine and Tissue Engineering, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ching-Jen
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D005271:Femur Head Necrosis / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D019220:High-Energy Shock Waves / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging
keywords: Avascular necrosis of femoral head; ESWT; Orthopedics; Osteonecrosis; Shock wave