Can femoral head necrosis induced by steroid therapy in patients infected with coronaviruses be reversed?

摘要

Recently,we read with interest the findings of Zhang et al.1 of the long-term bone consequences in severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS)patients.Their conclusion suggested that pulmonary damage and femoral head necrosis could be halted and reversed in SARS patients during the 15-year follow-up.These results have very important implications for the treatment and health utility evaluation of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19).However,they did not explore the reasons for the reversal of femoral head necrosis after large doses of steroid pulse therapy,which may affect our understanding with regard to the treatment of COVID-19 patients.