Ischemia, Reperfusion Injury, and Osteoimmunology

Bone cells may be killed in a variety of ways, from radiation to poison. However, the clinical phenomenon that has become most identified with the term “osteonecrosis” is associated with ischemia. Ischemic osteonecrosis (ION) is the preferred term, although clinicians traditionally use ON (osteonecrosis) in spite of the fact that the absence of vessels has never been histologically confirmed (ischemic vessels are still vessels just as a dead body is still a body).