Abstract

Objective: To probe into the clinical and imaging manifestations and mechanisms of fluorosis-associated arthropathy.

Methods: Analyses were conducted on the clinical manifestations, X-rays and magnetic resonance examinations in 18 cases with fluorosis-associated arthropathy.

Results: Skeletal fluorosis of different severities was revealed in the 18 cases. Major clinical symptoms were as follows: pain over the spine, joints of extremities and muscles near the spine and around such joints, lumbago and leg pain being foremost, along with limitation of joint motion, joint dysfunction and even joint rigidity, plus possible joint deformity and curvature of spine. Major imaging manifestations of fluorosis-associated arthropathy included synovial thickening, joint capsule swelling, effusion in joint cavity, joint space widening, calcification of articular cartilage and consequential joint space narrowing, along with erosion, destruction and fuzziness of osseous joint surface or arthrosclerosis, [the formation of] isolated bodies in joint cavity, hyperosteogeny of joint edges, calcification of ligaments around joints, calcification of joint capsule and even fuzzy joint space.

Conclusion: The clinical and imaging manifestations of fluorosis-associated arthropathy are of certain referential value for fluorosis typing and grading.

Translation by Trans Perfect Translations (2014)

• Related Studies :

  • A roentgenologic study of a human population exposed to high-fluoride domestic water; a ten-year study

    As shown in Table 1, a limited number of participants from both Bartlett and Cameron showed some degree of roentgenographic bone change but, in general, these changes were minimal. There was a larger number with no observable change in the ten-year interval, a fact disregarded or unreported in most fluoride

  • [Skeletal fluorosis: a case report].

    The authors report a case of skeletal fluorosis described in a 60 years old man living in south-west Tunisian. The main clinical sign is a severe functional legs disability. Radiographic examination has shown a diffused osteocondensation, with cervical spine degenerative discopathy, a pelvis bilateral osteoarthritis and an interosseous membrane ossification

  • The imaging value of bone turnover of skeletal fluorosis

    Objective To probe into X-ray, CT and MRI manifestations of bone turnover in skeletal fluorosis and diagnostic values of different examination technologies. Methods Comparisons and analyses were made on the imaging manifestations of bone turnover in 28 reported cases with skeletal fluorosis. Results All 28 cases had dental fluorosis of

  • Paleopathology of skeletal fluorosis

    Skeletal fluorosis is one of a range of conditions causing excessive ossification and joint ankylosis in skeletons. It is rarely considered, however, in differential diagnoses of palaeopathological lesions. This paper considers the identification of skeletal fluorosis in a skeletal sample from the island of Bahrain, Arabian Gulf, dating to ca.

  • Radiological modifications of the skeletal system among aluminum smelter workers: A 15 year retrospective study

    Previously by the time skeletal fluorosis among aluminum smelter workers due to high fluoride exposure was diagnosed numerous cases of bone fluorosis had already reached stages II and III according to Roholm. Today, as a result of improved working conditions and continuous health care, the picture has changed. This paper

• Related FAN Content :

  • Skeletal Fluorosis: The Misdiagnosis Problem

    It is a virtual certainty that there are individuals in the general population unknowingly suffering from some form of skeletal fluorosis as a result of a doctor's failure to consider fluoride as a cause of their symptoms. Proof that this is the case can be found in the following case reports of skeletal fluorosis written by doctors in the U.S. and other western countries. As can be seen, a consistent feature of these reports is that fluorosis patients--even those with crippling skeletal fluorosis--are misdiagnosed for years by multiple teams of doctors who routinely fail to consider fluoride as a possible cause of their disease.

  • Fluoride & Osteoarthritis

    While the osteoarthritic effects that occurred from fluoride exposure were once considered to be limited to those with skeletal fluorosis, recent research shows that fluoride can cause osteoarthritis in the absence of traditionally defined fluorosis. Conventional methods used for detecting skeletal fluorosis, therefore, will fail to detect the full range of people suffering from fluoride-induced osteoarthritis.

  • "Pre-Skeletal" Fluorosis

    As demonstrated by the studies below, skeletal fluorosis may produce adverse symptoms, including arthritic pains, clinical osteoarthritis, gastrointestinal disturbances, and bone fragility, before the classic bone change of fluorosis (i.e., osteosclerosis in the spine and pelvis) is detectable by x-ray. Relying on x-rays, therefore, to diagnosis skeletal fluorosis will invariably fail to protect those individuals who are suffering from the pre-skeletal phase of the disease. Moreover, some individuals with clinical skeletal fluorosis will not develop an increase in bone density, let alone osteosclerosis, of the spine. Thus, relying on unusual increases in spinal bone density will under-detect the rate of skeletal fluoride poisoning in a population.

  • Fluoride & DISH (Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis)

    Among individuals with skeletal fluorosis, the fluoride-induced changes to the spine, and the accompanying symptoms, can bear a close resemblance to DISH (Forestier's Disease). Some authors report that skeletal fluorosis can so closely resemble that DISH that the only way to distinguish the two would be to conduct an invasive bone biopsy. No studies have ever been conducted to determine what role, if any, fluoride plays in the development of DISH.

  • Skeletal Fluorosis in India & China

    In India and China, scientists have repeatedly found that skeletal fluorosis occurs in populations drinking water with just 0.7 to 1.5 ppm fluoride. Although nutritional deficiencies and hot climates make populations in India and China more susceptible to fluoride toxicity than is generally the case in western countries, this fact does not remove the relevance of the Indian and Chinese experience to the situation in fluoridating countries. This is because (a) nutritional deficiencies also exist in the western world, particularly in low-income communities, and (b) some individuals, including those with kidney disease, can be just as -- if not more -- susceptible to fluoride toxicity.