Incidence of hip osteonecrosis among renal transplantation recipients: A prospective study

Aim: To investigate whether a lessened glucocorticoid cumulative dose would lead to a decreased incidence of femoral head osteonecrosis. Methods: Newly transplanted in-patients (n = 49) underwent hip radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) a mean of 17.0 ± 4.3 (range 8-29) days after renal transplantation. For the 48 patients without evidence of prevalent osteonecrosis, imaging at a mean of 5.9 ± 0.8 (range 4.8-8.7) months after renal transplantation was graded for presence/absence of femoral head osteonecrosis by two blinded radiologists. Sociodemographic and disease characteristics of patients were compared to identify potential associations with incident osteonecrosis. Results: At 6-month follow-up, only two patients (4%) had osteonecrosis of the femoral head (three hips). The two primary radiologists had excellent agreement between osteonecrosis diagnosis (kappa coefficient = 0.78). Both cases of a definite MRI diagnosis of osteonecrosis occurred in patients who were in the highest tertile of glucocorticoid dosage. Conclusion: Osteonecrosis was uncommon among a prospective cohort of renal transplant recipients within 6 months after engraftment.