Sclerosis of a rib associated with a healed fracture of a contiguous thoracic vertebra.

A patient who suffered a fracture of the body of the 10th dorsal vertebra as a result of an automobile accident was examined seven years later. He complained of local pain over the gibbus site. All movements in the back and the joints of the extremities were within normal limits. Radiographs disclosed a healed compressed fracture of the body of the 10th thoracic vertebra with bony bridges contiguous with the 9th and 11th thoracic vertebrae. An unusual finding was the presence of a uniform sclerosis of a single rib at the level of the fracture site. Other bones of the rib cage, as well as the lumbar and pelvic bones, were normal. The basis for the abnormal density of the affected rib may be due to abnormal stress factors (Wolff's law).