Transient bone marrow edema syndrome progressing to avascular necrosis of the hip - a case report and review of the literature.

Transient bone marrow edema syndrome (TMES) is a rare disease of unknown etiology. Diagnosis is made by exclusion. There is still controversy as to whether TMES is considered to be a reversible form of avascular necrosis (AVN), a disease entity of its own or a form of non-traumatic algodystrophy. We here describe the extremely rare occurrence of three cases of TMES that progressed to AVN.