Subject(s)
Spinal Osteophytosis , Aged , Female , Humans , Lumbar Vertebrae/pathology , Male , Middle Aged , Radiography , Spinal Osteophytosis/diagnosis , Spinal Osteophytosis/diagnostic imaging , Spinal Osteophytosis/pathology , Spondylitis, Ankylosing/diagnosis , Syndrome , Terminology as Topic , Thoracic Vertebrae/pathologyABSTRACT
Light microscopic and for the first time electron microscopic (EM) studies of involved elastic ear cartilage in a patient with relapsing polychondritis confirm the superficial location of the inflammatory reaction. EM studies of deep cartilage were identical to those on controls except for a rare necrotic cell. Superficial cartilage showed a finely granular electron-dense material. This material, which may be protein, possibly of enzyme or immunoglobulin origin, also surrounded some elastic fibrils. Findings of predominantly superficial changes and the multisystem disease in the present patient and in many others suggest that the cartilage destruction is part of a systemic inflammatory disease.
Subject(s)
Cartilage/ultrastructure , Ear, External/pathology , Polychondritis, Relapsing/pathology , Cartilage/metabolism , Female , Glycosaminoglycans/metabolism , Humans , Microscopy, Electron , Middle AgedABSTRACT
The extraspinal manifestations of Forestier's disease are described in 21 consecutive cases; diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is suggested as a more appropriate description of this ossifying diathesis. Characteristic roentgen abnormalities of the spine were present in all individuals and associated with significant axial clinical complaints. In extraspinal locations, hyperostosis at ligament attachments usually occurs in the pelvis, calcaneus, tarsal bones, ulnar olecranon and patella, and is occasionally associated with clinical signs and symptoms requiring surgery. The radiographic appearance in the peripheral skeleton is frequently distinctive and allows the radiologist to suggest the correct diagnosis, even in the absence of axial radiographs.
