Blood Flow Rate of Femoral Head with Avascular Necrosis of Femoral Head

Objective] There are many experimental reports concerning the blood flow of femoral head but little is known about it in clinically, especially in anterolateral area of femoral head where is osteonecrosis occurs frequently. Our aim was to investigate hydrogen washout technique further in clinical trials, and open a path to clinical research in cases with avascular necrosis of femoral head.[Method] Eleven consecutive cases with avascular necrosis of femoral head were utilized for measurement of blood flow rate of anterolateral region of femoral head using hydrogen washout technique in our hospital from February to August 2001. [Result] The average blood flow rate of anterolateral area of femoral head in 11 cases with avascular necrosis of femoral head was (0.067 8±0.016 7)mL/( min-1·cm-3 ). [Conclusion]Our findings indicated that hydrogen washout technique is a quite simple, quanti-tative and reliable method for measurement of blood flow perfusion of femoral head in patients with avascular necrosis of femoral head clinically. Our current data may have important implications for the further study of avascular necrosis of femoral head.