Effectiveness of various hip preservation treatments for non-traumatic osteonecrosis of the femoral head: A network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background

Non-traumatic osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is a refractory osteonecrosis disease caused by an abnormal blood supply to bone tissue. However, therapeutic hip preservation strategies are diverse, and the therapeutic outcomes are not ideal.

Objective

A network meta-analysis was performed to assess the effect of hip preservation treatments on non-traumatic ONFH.

Methods

We searched public electronic databases through May 15, 2017 using the following keywords: “femoral head necrosis osteonecrosis”; “femoral head osteonecrosis”; “osteonecrosis of femoral head”; “avascular necrosis of femoral head”; “necrosis of femoral”; and “random*”. The primary outcome in the present analysis was the treatment failure rate. Secondary outcomes included the Harris hip and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) scores.

Results

We included 21 articles assessing a total of 1415 hips in our analysis. In the network meta-analysis, the treatments were ranked by the surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA). Core decompression (CD) plus cytotherapy was most likely to reduce the treatment failure rate (SUCRA score = 18.9%), followed by alendronate treatment (SUCRA score = 17.8%), cocktail treatments (SUCRA score = 15.6%), extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) plus alendronate (SUCRA score = 15.4%), and avascular biomaterials plus cytotherapy (SUCRA score = 13.8%) in a frequentist framework; similar results were obtained in a Bayesian framework. For the secondary outcomes, ESWT was most likely to improve the Harris hip score (SUCRA score = 33.7%), followed by ESWT plus alendronate (SUCRA score = 33.1%) and cocktail (SUCRA score = 19.6%) treatments in a frequentist framework. A traditional analysis showed that the effect of CD plus cytotherapy was significantly better than the effect of CD alone in improving the WOMAC score (SMD, ?6.01; 95% CI, ?7.81 to ?4.22; p < 0.001).

Conclusion

CD plus cytotherapy is a relatively superior treatment for reducing treatment failure rates in early and intermediate ONFH patients, and ESWT is the most effective treatment for improving Harris hip scores.