Abstract
Neurological involvement in fluorosis occurs in the advanced stage of the disease and is due to compression of the spinal cord and/or nerve roots. There are only a few reports on the role of surgical management of these cases in the medical literature. Five cases of fluorosis from the endemic areas of Uttar Pradesh, India, had associated cervical cord compression. Their mean age was 43 yr (range 35-50), and all cases were manual laborers. Three patients with blocked cervical subarachnoid space on myelography underwent laminectomy using local anesthesia. All three cases improved significantly after surgery. The usefulness of laminectomy in selected cases of cervical cord compression due to fluorosis is suggested.
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Sketetal changes in endemic fluorosis
Summary 1. The skeletal changes in endemic fluorosis are described from an area of the Punjab where the fluorine content of water and soil is very high. 2. A detailed description of a fluorotic skeleton is given, with its various anthropometric measurements. 3. The vertebral changes demonstrated the pathogenesis of the neurological complications
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Changes in basic metabolic elements associated with the degeneration and ossification of ligamenta flava
OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between levels of basic metabolic elements and degeneration and ossification of the ligamentum flavum (LF). SUBJECTS: Fourteen consecutive patients with degenerative lumbar stenosis, 11 with ossification of the thoracic ligamenta flava, and 11 control subjects. METHODS: The basic elements of calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg), zinc
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Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament and fluorosis
There is only one report of ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) in patients suffering from fluorosis. Deshpande, Dinakarand Reddy (1976) mention an association with fluorosis in 14 of 26 cases. OPLL is not mentioned in two reviews of fluorosis (Jolly 1981; Reddy and Reddy 1987). Patients. In our neurological service,
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Fluorotic cervical compressive myelopathy, 20 years after laminectomy: A rare event
BACKGROUND: Spinal cord compression in flourosis is a common complication. These complications are mainly due to compression of the spinal cord by thickening and ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament and ligamentum flavum. Surgical decompression is the treatment of choice for fluorotic spinal cord compression. The recurrence of spinal cord compression
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Skeletal fluorosis with neurological complications
A case of skeletal fluorosis with spinal cord compression from Kekirawa following consumption of water with high fluoride content for about 20 years is described. The observations of other workers and the present case report show that more extensive field studies among vulnerable populations is indicated in this region. The need to
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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.
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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.
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Fluoride & Spinal Stenosis
Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the spaces in the spine that results in pressure being placed on the spinal cord and/or nerve roots. Although stenosis can develop without symptoms, it may produce numbness, tingling, pain and difficulty in walking, as well as a heavy/tired feeling in the legs. It is estimated that 250,000 to 500,000 Americans currently have symptoms of spinal stenosis. Skeletal fluorosis is one cause of stenosis.
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"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.
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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.
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