Metabolic and endocrine disorders of the skeleton

Abstract

This chapter deals with the metabolic and endocrine disorders that affect the skeleton in childhood. It also considers the results of excess and deficiency of vitamins and the toxic effects of metals on bone. These disorders deal with inherited conditions, such as osteopetrosis, that result from abnormal bone cell biology; with polyostotic fibrous dysplasia, in which endocrine disturbances may also occur; and with ossification in the soft tissues, particularly when this is inherited. Osteogenesis imperfecta - an important metabolic disorder that has become a subject of its own [1] - and the skeletal dysplasias are dealt with in Chapter 7. The prevalence of individual metabolic bone diseases varies with age; in particular osteoporosis, so frequent in adult life, is rare in childhood. © Springer-Verlag London Limited 2010.