Novel stem cell technique helps patients avoid total hip replacement

Jeanne Mitterando, 46, is a very active family medicine doctor— she hikes, skis and works out with a personal trainer. But all that stopped after she was hospitalized for asthma and given high-dose steroids for a month.

The Martinsville, New Jersey woman began experiencing pain in her right hip and soon needed a cane to walk.

“I was [doing rounds] at the hospital, but slowly, walking became a problem,” she told FoxNews.com. “I couldn’t do stairs anymore.”

Soon, the pain moved into her left hip and she was diagnosed with avascular necrosis, where the bone dies in the femoral head, the highest part of the thigh bone. The condition accounts for 15 percent of all total hip replacements performed every year in the U.S.

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