BONE DEATH: AVN common in Vid but cases increased multifold post-Covid

Nagpur: As expected, the cases of Avascular necrosis (AVN) or bone death in Covid-recovered patients are on rise. Doctors are seeing more patients of AVN post-second wave, but they said the number will grow further.
“The orthopedic department of GMCH presently has 2 patients of AVN and one of them is a health worker who recovered from Covid-19. Both were on steroid therapy during their Covid treatment. But, this is just a beginning,” said Dr Mohn Faizal, head of the Orthopedic Department of GMCH.
“These patients are from the first wave. Steroid use was more rampant in the second wave and the patients who received more steroids will start facing AVN anytime between 6 to 18 months post-recovery. More cases will come from rural and semi-urban areas,” he said.
Anticipating this, the GMCH has already started a special Clinic for the AVN patients every Monday at number 65 OPD. Here, expert doctors check the patients who recovered from Covid-19 and suffering from hip joint pain. Hip joint replacement surgery is the final remedy of AVN. This surgery can be conducted for free of cost in GMCH under Ayushman Bharat Yojna, stated doctors appealing that people should not neglect the hip joint pain post-Covid recovery.
Unlike other parts of the country, the AVN is not new for Nagpur. As the district comes under the sickle cell belt, the doctors here treat AVN quite regularly. A veteran in orthopedic surgery Dr Sudhir Babhulkar had done extensive research on this subject since 1970s and published many papers which are referred across the world. His son and senior orthopedic surgeon Dr Sushrut Babhulkar told TOI that due to this extensive research, his clinic is considered a reference clinic for AVN patients in central India.
“I personally see 5 to 6 patients of AVN daily and at least 3 to 4 of them are due to steroids. A month before, this number was hardly 1 or 2 per day. The cause was alcoholism or sickle cell,” said Dr Babhulkar.
“Ours being a referral center, we are getting a more number of AVN patients referred from across central India. But, overall too, the number is growing and will grow. The good news is that you can skip the crucial hip joint replacement surgery if your AVN is detected in an early stage,” he assured.
If detected in zero or first stage, medicine treatment can reserve the bone death. In the second and third stage, it requires surgical correction and in the fourth stage, nothing less than hip joint replacement can do.
Doctors advised people not to neglect any symptom of hip joint pain post-Covid-19.