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PREVENTION
There are no known effective prevention measures. However steroids should only be taken as necessary and alcohol consumption should always be in moderation. Some experimental drug protocols are being evaluated which may have a place in treatment or prevention in the future.
TREATMENT
The concept of Risk/Benefit Ratio Before entering into a description of some of the treatments available for ON, it is important that this concept be understood. Any surgical procedure has a certain element of risk involved. Even no treatment at all has the risk that the disease will progress, so doing nothing is not risk free. Some procedures may have a lower likelihood of success by have very little downside risk. Other procedures may have a higher degree of success, but also have a higher degree of risk. The physician must work with the patient in assessing all the factors that evaluate both risk and benefit for the patient in their particular circumstance. What is right for one patient may be absolutely wrong for another. This is particularly true for ON because each patient presents with a unique set of factors (age, associated disease, specific joint(s) involved, extent and progression of disease). Any treatment needs to be determined between you and your treating physician.
Extent of disease The femoral head is the most frequent bone involved and will be used for this discussion. It is rare for the entire weight-bearing surface of the femoral head to be involved. However if more than half of the surface is involved, treatments designed to preserve the femoral head have a much lower chance of success.