Orthopaedic long COVID - the unknown unknowns: are we facing a pandemic of avascular necrosis following COVID-19?

[摘要] The world has been locked in a duel with theSARS-CoV-2 virus. The ensuing COVID-19pandemic has led to previously unthinkablechanges, not only to how healthcare systemsfunction, but also the demands placed uponthose systems.1,2 From an orthopaedic perspective, elective operations for those sufferingwith what are often severe, life-limiting conditions were cancelled to allow health services tocope with the successive waves of COVID-19patients.3 This has resulted in a staggeringincrease in waiting lists to levels that will takeyears to bring back under control.4 It has alsoresulted in twice the number of patients whoare waiting for total hip or knee arthroplastyexperiencing a state of life which can be considered as “worse than death”.

[学科分类] 骨科学

[关键词] COVID-19;Avascular necrosis;COVID-19 pandemic;avascular necrosis;femoral head;steroids;SARS;glucocorticoid;total hip or knee arthroplasty;degenerative joint disease;musculoskeletal disease