Rapid destruction of the humeral head due to bone fragility: report of two cases

Rapid destruction of the femoral head has been well understood since Postel’s report in 1970 [1]. This condition occurs mostly in elderly women, and considerable concern has been directed to the subchondral insufficiency fracture as a cause of femoral head collapse [2]. In contrast, rapid destruction of the humeral head is rare; only one case of nonnecrotic humeral head collapse is reported in the literature [3]. We treated two patients whose humeral head collapse was most possibly due to an insufficiency fracture. The patients and/or their families were informed that data from the case would be submitted for publication and gave their consent.