avascular necrosis from steroids

[Mark G]

Hi Folks,


Diagnosed with TC almost 4 years ago and wish i had of found this site at the time.

I just want to find out if anyone has developed or knows of anyone to develop avascular necrosis after chemo?

The reason I ask is because 18 months after finishing chemo i developed a pain in my left hip and after putting up with the pain for 2 year(until i was unable to walk) i had a hip replacement, reason being the steroids i was given during chemo caused a condition called avascular necrosis.

I'm not here to give out about it, i'm alive at the end of the day but i want to know if it's common, my doctor said it's not but the more people i talk to the more people i discover have develope it.

Thanks
Mark

[jram303]

Hey Mark, sorry to hear about the hip replacement man, but glad to hear that you are doing well that far down the road! I personally cant say i know anyone with this particular side effect but i Vaguely do remember hearin about it.i myself am trying to find some help with a rare side effect, and have experienced another rare side effect from the cisplatin.L'hermittes sign is one, and i am hoping the gynecomastia i have is just another. I know that we are not often told about these "rare" side effects, but i think we really only seem to think inside our general range of people that would be effected by them.The world is a big place,and I am sure that if we were to see the whole spectrum, these side effects might not seem so "rare". It deffinately does make me think (not that our oncs dont do great already) really let us know about some of these more uncommon effects, i know for me personally it would relieve a great deal of the stress that is put on me already. Sorry that this is more just rambling and not what you were looking for. Take care my man.

[Karen]

Welcome Mark, and congrats on being all clear for 4 years. I don't recall AVN mentioned here, but a quick search of the literature brought up a lot of papers on AVN with steroids, and even cases with combination chemo and no steroids. I hope the hip replacement surgery went well and you are pain free and mobile!

[Mark G]

hi guys, thanks for the replies, all is going well with the new hip, had it done about 7-8 months ago, surgeon was really good.

Jram, i know what you mean, when i found out what caused my needing the hip done i was as angry as hell, why couldn't they have told me this? But when i think about it they can't tell us everything and at the time side effects were not the main priority.

Thanks again

[HeyBC]

I was just diagnosed with Avascular Necrosis today.

I had TC (left side, 100% seminoma) diagnosed in October 2009 and had my orchiectomy 10/22/09. I had radiation therapy Nov. - Dec. following surgery.

The following spring of 2010 I started running again (lifelong runner - short distances only) and decided I wanted to train for my for my first marathon. I was successful and ran the Walt Disney World Marathon in Jan. of 2011.

Following that race I kept running and completed a half marathon in April of 2011 and ran a 10K in May. This past July, while starting up training for the 2012 WDW Marathon I started having hip pain. It got progressively worse to where I was having a lot of trouble walking about 2 weeks ago.

My orthopedist ordered an MRI and I got the results today. It's been a real shock to absorb another serious diagnosis after surviving TC (I got a 6 month checkup just last week and all was clear).

I've been reading tonight that there is a connection between radiation therapy and AVN. If that's the cause in my case, then it seems cancer is the gift that keeps on giving. The orthopedist referred me to a hip specialist whom I will see next week. Since it was detected "early" there's a chance it may not require hip replacement any time soon.

Still trying to absorb this news. Not fun at all. But God's grace has seen me through TC and I know He will be with me through this, too.

[CW406]

Well, this has made me good and paranoid. I'm 6 months out from 2XBEP and a couple days ago I started having hip pain. I think it's muscular in nature, but there's so much going on in that area that it's hard to tell. I've put about 100 miles on my bike this week and I lift weights most days so there is certainly no shortage of causes. But seeing this sitll bothers me. It's most annoying when I'm just sitting still - a dull ache. While exercising or moving around it is not as noticeable and seems to warm up. Could you describe the pain associated with this condition? None of the websites I've read seem to give a good enough description of the symptoms to be useful.