Extracorporeal shock wave therapy in early osteonecrosis of the femoral head: prospective clinical study with long-term follow-up.

Introduction: Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) may exert beneficial effects in avascular necrosis of femoral head (AVNFH).

Patients: The current study evaluated the effectiveness of ESWT in reducing pain and in slowing down the progression of bone damage in 36 patients with unilateral AVNFH of stage Association Research Circulation Osseous (ARCO) I, II and III. At the beginning of the study, 10 hips were classified as stage I, 11 as stage II and 15 as stage III.