Sartorius muscle pedicle iliac bone graft for the treatment of avascular necrosis of femur head

Avascular necrosis (AVN) of femoral head needs to be addressed early in the course of the disease, to prevent progression to osteoarthritis. A revascularizing procedure which can help preserve the head should be considered in young adults to alleviate the need for total hip arthroplasty. We included 40 cases (53 hips) of AVN of femoral head operated with Sartorius muscle pedicle iliac bone grafting, done by the senior author. Early post-operative rehabilitation was done. The weight bearing was delayed for 6 weeks. All the patients were followed clinically and radiologically at regular intervals. The operated femoral heads, were grouped according to Ficat’s staging: 24 in stage IIA (45.3%), 22 in stage IIB (41.5%) and 07 in stage III (13.2%). The average duration of surgery was 85 min (range: 55–130 min). The total duration of follow-up was average 4.2 years (range: 2.2–15 years).The Harris hip score was excellent (>90) in 18 hips (33.96%), good (80–89) in 24 hips (45.28%), fair (70–79) in 9 hips (17%) and poor (<70) in 2 hips (3.7%). AVN of the femoral head is a painful and disabling condition in young adults. Sartorius muscle pedicle bone graft technique allows adequate decompression, re vascularization and osteogenesis of the femur head in Ficat’s stage IIa, IIb and III, in young adults. This is an effective and easy technique to adopt with excellent to good results in 80% cases and is associated with only minimal complications.