Abstract:
The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was a highly infectious pneumoni that
emerged in Uzbekistan due to Covid-19 pandemic. A large number of SARS patients
experienced large joint arthralgia, although this was, for the most part, not associate
with any abnormality on magnetic resonance imaging. The main musculoskeletal
complication of SARS were osteonecrosis and reduced bone mass, and these arose not
from the disease per se but as a sequel to treatment of SARS with high-dose steroids.
SARS patient were almost universally steroid naive with no other known
predisposition to osteonecrosis. Prevalence of osteonecrosis in SARS patients treated
with steroids ranged from 5% to 58%. Osteonecrosis most commonly affected the
proximal femur and femoral condyles and was most strongly related to cumulative
steroid dose and duration of steroid therapy. Most osteonecrotic lesions tended to
improve with a reduction in lesion volume over a follow-up period of 5 years. The
relative reduction in osteonecrotic lesion volume was greatest for smaller lesions.
