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Avascular Necrosis of the Femoral Head

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Clinical Atlas of Bone SPECT/CT

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Abstract

The clinical presentation of avascular necrosis (AVN) of the femoral head is variable and non-specific, ranging from asymptomatic to extreme pain in the affected hip. While MRI is often considered the reference standard for diagnosing AVN, studies have shown similar sensitivity between MRI and bone SPECT for subclinical AVN. The acute phase of AVN manifests as photopenia within the femoral head and can last approximately 1 week, after which high tracer uptake is seen, reflecting reactive osteoblastic bone activity. This chapter describes the appearance of AVN on bone SPECT/CT, illustrated with correlative imaging findings.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consultant Musculoskeletal Radiologist, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    Geoffrey Chow & Thomas Armstrong

  2. Consultant Radionuclide Radiologist, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    Arum Parthipun

  3. Consultant Radiologist and Nuclear Medicine Physician, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    Malavika Nathan

Authors
  1. Geoffrey Chow
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  2. Thomas Armstrong
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  3. Arum Parthipun
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  4. Malavika Nathan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Malavika Nathan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium

    Tim Van den Wyngaert

  2. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    Gopinath Gnanasegaran

  3. Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Luzerner Kantonsspital, Lucerne, Switzerland

    Klaus Strobel

Section Editor information

  1. Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    Arum Parthipun

  2. Royal Free London Hospital, London, UK

    Malavika Nathan

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Chow, G., Armstrong, T., Parthipun, A., Nathan, M. (2023). Avascular Necrosis of the Femoral Head. In: Van den Wyngaert, T., Gnanasegaran, G., Strobel, K. (eds) Clinical Atlas of Bone SPECT/CT. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26449-8_272

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26449-8_272

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-26448-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-26449-8

  • eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine

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