A 70-year-old alcoholic presented with pain in the left hip joint.
He had been in good health with his only past medical history being of sudden blindness in the right eye which
was treated with high dose steroids.
x Ray of the left hip showed severe degeneration of femoral head with loss of joint space.
What is the most likely cause of the joint deformity?
Age related osteoarthritis
Avascular necrosis of the femoral head (Correct)
Monoarticular rheumatoid arthritis with eye involvement
Perthes’ disease
Reiter’s syndrome
Age related osteoarthritis is incorrect as osteoarthritis is generally bilateral and x ray changes are osteophytes,
subchondral sclerosis and subchondral cyst formation.
Rheumatoid arthritis does not cause blindness and the x ray changes include juxta-articular bony erosions,
periarticular osteopenia, periarticular soft tissue swelling and joint subluxation.
Perthes’ disease is a disease of childhood.
Reiter’s syndrome presents more acutely with painful eyes and painful joints. In chronic cases x ray changes
are similar to those of RA