251. A RE-EVALUATION OF THE 'FISH VERTEBRA' SIGN IN SICKLE CELL HEMOGLOBINOPATHY
- Author
-
Jack Reynolds
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Ischemia ,Anemia, Sickle Cell ,Thoracic Vertebrae ,Lesion ,Deformity ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging ,Bone growth ,business.industry ,Nutrient artery ,General Medicine ,Anatomy ,medicine.disease ,Vertebra ,Radiography ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Hemoglobinopathy ,Cervical Vertebrae ,%22">Fish ,Female ,medicine.symptom ,business - Abstract
The so-called fish vertebra deformity as manifest in sickle cell disease is shown to be different, both in contour and mode of development, from the familiar type of biconcave deformity commonly seen in the osteoporotic spine. The distinctive structural features which characterize this lesion are described. The deformity is unique in its local topography, its uniformity, and the manner in which it evolves.Evidence based on a consideration of the contour of the defect and its location within the bone indicates that it is produced, not by the destruction and compression of existing bone like the common types of fish vertebra deformity, but by the local inhibition of bone growth as the result of regional ischemia. The "end-plates" of the growing centra where cupping takes place are functionally analogous to metaphyses, and the regional vascular anatomy is such that only the central portion of the growth plate suffers ischemic damage when circulation is impaired through the branches of the nutrient artery. Th...
- Published
- 1966