What does osteonecrosis of the knee feel like?

Osteonecrosis develops in stages. The first symptom is typically pain on the inside of the knee. This pain may occur suddenly and be triggered by a specific activity or minor injury. As the disease progresses, it becomes more difficult to stand and put weight on the affected knee, and moving the knee joint is painful.

What causes spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee?

Spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee is due to an overload of the medial compartment, primarily the medial femoral condyle, leading to a swelling of the bone on MRI and an overload of the articular cartilage surface. This overload can lead to insufficiency fractures and the rapid wear of the articular cartilage.

What is spontaneous osteonecrosis?

Spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee (SONK) is an idiopathic condition that leads to the development of a crescent shaped osteonecrosis lesion, mostly commonly in the epiphysis of the medial femoral condyle.

What is spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee?

Spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee, often referred to as SONK, was historically referred to as an insufficiency reaction of the medial femoral condyle that occurred “spontaneously” could often go on to have insufficiency fractures and advanced arthritis of the medial compartment of the knee.

Is bone death painful?

Many people have no symptoms in the early stages of avascular necrosis. As the condition worsens, your affected joint might hurt only when you put weight on it. Eventually, you might feel the pain even when you’re lying down. Pain can be mild or severe and usually develops gradually.

How common is necrosis of the knee?

The incidence of secondary or atraumatic osteonecrosis of the knee is approximately 90% less than the incidence of hip osteonecrosis. It usually affects patients younger than 45 years of age and frequently involves multiple lesions affecting numerous joints.

What causes necrosis of the knee?

Causes. Avascular necrosis of the knee happens when the blood supply is cut off to the bone cells in the knee. Anything that causes pressure to build up and crowd the bone marrow can reduce the blood supply to the bone cells.

Spontaneous Osteonecrosis of the Knee First described in 1968, spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee (SONK) is a distinct clinical entity that is a common cause of acute, unilateral knee pain and swelling. Unlike secondary osteonecrosis or post-arthroscopic osteonecrosis, there is no consensus with regards to the etiology of the conditi …

What is osteonecrosis and how does it affect bones?

Also called osteonecrosis, it can lead to tiny breaks in the bone and the bone’s eventual collapse. A broken bone or dislocated joint can interrupt the blood flow to a section of bone.

What is the prevalence of meniscal tears in osteonecrosis of the knee?

  Meniscal tears were found to occur in 50 to 100% of patients with spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee in the included studies, with the extent of medial meniscus extrusion correlating to the stage and volume of SONK lesions.[10] 

Is Sonk an end-stage osteoarthritis of the knee?

3 Artromedical Orthopaedic Clinic, Chrobrego 24, 97-400, Belchatow, Poland. [email protected]. Purpose: Spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee (SONK) is said to be a relatively common disease which may lead to an end-stage osteoarthritis of the knee.