Research progresses on hip-preserving surgery for osteonecrosis of the femoral head

Osteonecrosis of the femoral head is a pathophysiologic process caused by multiple factors, with 80% of untreated patients progressing to the collapse of the femoral head within four years after the onset of the disease. The treatment protocols should be made according to the patient’s etiology and the course of the disease. For the early- and middle-stage patients, the progress of the disease could be prevented or delayed via the hip-preserving surgeries, which mainly including core decompression, bone grafting, porous tantalum rod insertion, osteotomy,cytokine treatment or stem cell transplantation. In this paper, the research progresses of the above surgical methods is reviewed.