Avascular necrosis (AVN) of the femoral head (FH) causes 5% to 12% of total hip arthroplasties (THA). It especially affects active male adults between the third and fifth decades of life. The exact worldwide incidence is unknown. There are only few data related to each country, but most of it relates to the United States.Non-surgical management has a very limited role in the treatment of AVN of the FH and only in its earliest stages. Core decompression (CD) of the hip is the most common procedure used to treat the early stages of AVN of the FH. Recently, surgeons have considered combining CD with autologous bone-marrow cells, demineralised bone matrix or bone morphogenetic proteins or methods of angiogenic potential to enhance bone repair in the FH.Manuscripts were deemed eligible for our review if they evaluated treatment of early stage AVN of the FH with biotechnology implanted via CD. After application of eligibility criteria, we selected 19 reports for final analysis.The principal results showed that only by correctly mastering the therapeutic principles and adopting proper methods specifically oriented to different stages can the best therapeutic effect be achieved. Combining CD with biotechnology could result in a novel long-lasting hip- preserving treatment option.Furthermore, more refined clinical studies are needed to establish the effectiveness of biotechnology treatments in AVN of the FH.Cite this article: EFORT Open Rev 2017;2:41-50. DOI: 10.1302/2058-5241.2.150006

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Polytherapy, namely the simultaneous application of three fundamental elements necessary for bone regeneration (growth factors, osteogenic cells and osteocnductive scaffolds) seems to lead to a very high success rate in the treatment of complex non-union (NU) cases and critical bone defects. NU are reported in 5–10% of long bone fractures. The use of autologous bone grafts has been long-considered the gold standard for the treatment of these cases. However the harvesting procedure from the iliac crest increases surgery time and presents some donor site complications which may be elevated. In recent years, surgeons have some alternatives to autologous grafting such as: application of organic or synthetic bone substitute, application of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) or growth factors (GF). In the literature there are many studies available about their application in monotherapy, but unfortunately the healing rate doesn't exceed 90%. Polytherapy seems to be a logical option to improve the healing rate, nevertheless, there are not still extensive studies that validate this strategy and moreover, some questions are not resolved.