ostéonécrose

OBS: Osteonecrosis, without evidence of an inflammatory process or sepsis, is usually regarded as secondary to loss of the blood supply (avascular necrosis of bone). Some argue that metabolic changes in the osteocytes are responsible for bone death in certain forms of the disease and recommend the general term osteonecrosis. An older synonym that emphasizes the lack of an inflammatory component is aseptic necrosis. Since the precise pathogenesis remains unknown and major vascular loss is not always evident, the term osteonecrosis seems preferable. [From RHEUD, 1983, p. 157.]