Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Fibrous Dysplasia







What is it?
Fibrous Dysplasia is a bone disorder where an abnormal development of fibrous bone tissue occurs and replaces normal bone. As a result of this, the normal bone expands and becomes weakened and more suseptible to fractures. Some of the more common bones that are affected are facial bones (maxilla), skull, femur, humerus, and tibia. Minor cases of this disorder don't usually display any noticable signs or symptoms, but more severe cases result in bone pain, and deformity which normally occurs by the age of 15.

What is the cause?
There is no real known cause of this disorder but, medical professionals believe that there is a possibility that a chemical irregularity occurs in bone protein. This abnormality maybe a result of a gene mutation that is present at birth. There is no evidence to support that this is an inherited disorder.

What are the symptoms?
-Bone pain due to the expansion of the fibrous tissue in the bone
-Bone deformity
-Bone fracture

How is this diagnosed?
The most common ways of diagnosing this disorder are by:

-plain film xray
-CT scans
-Biopsy of the bone itself
-blood tests

What is the treatement?
Treatment consists of:
-surgery to the affected bone with the possiblity of bone grafts
-medication for pain management
-physical thearpy depending on what bone is affected

References



No comments:

Post a Comment