ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate possible reasons of different incidence of femoral head necrosis between two populations exposed to corticosteroid: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and renal allograft transplantation. Methods 67 cases of SARS and 59 cases of renal allograft transplantation were enrolled in the study. The following relevant data were reviewed: cumulative dosage (intravenous methylprednisolone and oral prednisone respectively), maximum single dosage, corticosteroids-exposing days, body weight, weight-load index, and minimum arterial oxygen pressure. MRI of bilateral hips was taken in all the patients. Results The incidence of femoral head necrosis of SARS (23.9%) was significantly higher than the renal allograft transplantation patients (6.8%) (P0.05). There was a very significant difference in minimum arterial oxygen pressure between two groups (P