[Correlation between osteoporosis and discarthrosis. Comparative frequency of spinal osteophytosis and thickness of intervertebral disk in 50 patients with osteoporosis confirmed by bone biopsy and in 50 controls. Study of lordosis in 50 osteoporotic patients].

Comparative radiological study of the spine in 50 osteoporotic subjects selected on double criteria, radiological and histological, and 50 control subjects of the same age and same sex, confirmed the lesser frequency and the mildness of the osteophyte formation, and the disk degeneration in osteoporotic subjects. The vertebral radiological index, which measures both the number and importance of the vertebral body surface concavity and vertebral collapse, and has no significant correlation with age. A study of the degree of lordosis and of the index of bending of the trunk was carried out in 50 osteoporotic patients. Only one third of them had lumbar hyperlordosis. Owing to its inconstancy, lumbar hyperlordosis cannot be considered as responsible for the mildness of the osteophyte formation in osteoporotic patients. It seems reasonable to admit that the mildness of the osteophyte formation and of the osteoporosis are linked together and are probably the result of a reduced capacity of bone formation.