I have been diagnosed with AVN of both knees and degenerative joint disease in both hips. The MRI's of my knees said I'd had "acute and chronic bone infarctions." I'm a nurse, and while I've heard a lot about Myocardial infarctions (heart attacks) I haven't heard about bone infarctions. With MI's you get symptoms; chest pain, feeling short of breath, etc. Are there symptoms that go with a bone infarction? By the way, my AVN is "idiopathic" which leaves me with many questions about how it happened. Does anyone else out there have idiopathic AVN? Thanks - Janet

-- Janet H. Schuitema (jhschuitema@msn.com), May 17, 2004

Answers

Bone infarctions and ON relate to each other in that they are the same thing. AVN (avascular necrosis) is yet another term to describe the same condition. Symptoms include pain and stiffness.

-- Mesfin Lemma, M.D. (mlemma2@jhmi.edu), May 19, 2004.