Abstract
We can conclude that in children with acute leukemiatreated by conventional chemotherapy, symptomatic osteonecrosis occurs predominantly in individuals at theage of 10 years and older. Besides older age, there are noother known risk factors in this population.
Asymptomatic osteonecrosis detectable by MRI has been shown tobe a relatively common finding in childhood acute leukemia. Because of the low incidence of symptomatic osteonecrosis, however, it would not seem appropriate to screen all patients at risk.
Early diagnosis of this complication is desirable in order to start treatment (e.g.,limited weight-bearing) at the earliest time, when it willbe most efficacious, and thus lower the risk of progres-sion that might require surgical intervention.