Transient painful osteoporosis of the hip in pregnancy.

A 35-year-old patient is presented with transient painful osteoporosis of the hip during the last trimester of pregnancy. This syndrome, which was first described in 1959, is characterized by mechanical pain in one or both hips and profund osteoporosis occurring shortly before or during the third trimester of pregnancy. The clinical course is spontaneous recovery within a few weeks to several months postpartum. There seem to be no specific laboratory findings. The treatment is symptomatic including bedrest. Awareness of this syndrome should help to state the right diagnosis, to choose a proper treatment and to obviate unnecessary invasive investigations.