Kathi - Avascular Necrosis (AVN)/Osteonecrosis

[Guest guest]

Kathi, I've been thinking about what you described about your bones on

the MRIs and what you asked about vascular disease and bone. I think you

are on the right track.

My best guess is that part of your problem could be avascular necrosis

(AVN) which is also called osteonecrosis. I know for sure that it can

happen in the hips and knees, but I can't say that I've ever read about

it in relationship to the spine (but that doesn't mean it couldn't

happen there). It's also likely that you have more than one thing going

on with your bones since you are the interesting, complicated person you

are.

Lupus itself and the medications used to treat it (you guessed it -

prednisone) can affect your bones in various ways. For example, AVN

occurs in 5 - 10% of SLE patients.

In my readings, there also appears to be great suspicion of an

association between Raynaud's and AVN. I saw a few references to AVN and

systemic sclerosis, too.

It will be very interesting to hear what the radiologist's assessment

is. Please let me know.

This page will take you to a lot of good links on osteonecrosis:

http://www.familyvillage.wisc.edu/lib_osteonecrosis.htm

Still thinking and looking,