Recent Progress in Osteomalacia and Rickets

Excerpt

Osteomalacia, including rickets, is a condition of bone characterized by the accumulation of increased amounts of bone matrix (osteoid) and epiphyseal cartilagethat fail to calcify or do so extremely slowly. It represents a systemic disorder of the skeleton that is the end result of calcification defects arising from a variety of causes. Since osteomalacia is encountered under a number of clinically dissimilar circumstances in which its presence is not always obvious, we have reviewed the subject in recent, selected literature with the intent to clarify its diagnosis in morphologic and dynamic terms and to discuss its clinical spectrum with emphasis