Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Various Interventions for Nontraumatic Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head

Objective. To assess the effectiveness of various therapeutic hip preservation strategies on patients with nontraumatic osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH). Design. This is a systematic review of previous literature and in-depth Bayesian network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to compare the clinical effect of various operation methods and one physical intervention (extracorporeal shockwave). Data Sources. Electronic literature, for studies published up to December 2017, was collected from PubMed, Medline, and the Cochrane Library. Study Selection. We selected RCTs on patients with ONFH. Treatment methods included extracorporeal shockwave (ESW), core decompression (CD), multiple drilling decompression (DD), vascularized fibular grafting (VFG), free-vascularized fibular grafting (FVFG), inverted femoral head grafting (IFHG), vascular iliac pedicle bone grafting (VIPBG), osteotomy, and tantalum implantation (TI). Outcome. The primary outcome was Harris score; the secondary outcome was Harris hip score (HHS), including total hip arthroplasty requirement (THA) and progression to collapse. Results. A total of 14 randomized controlled trials were investigated. ESW had the highest improvement on Harris score (probability best 52%), followed by VFG (probability was 38%). In the meanwhile, VFG also proved to be superior in reducing the failure rates of treatment (probability lowest 59%), followed by ESW (probability lowest 24%). In femoral necrosis stage-II, VFG achieved the highest probability in preventing treatment failures (52%) and showed better performance in reducing treatment failure rates than CD. Conclusion. ESW therapy (ESWT) is the most effective intervention to improve HHS, and VFG shows superior effect on reducing treatment failure rates.