Subchondral resorption of bone in renal osteodystrophy.

In a radiographic-pathologic study of the spine and several axial joints in a cadaver with renal osteodystrophy, subchondral resorption of bone is described as an important mechanism of osseous abnormality. Widening and irregularity of the sacroilliac and sternoclavicular joints and symphysis pubis are related predominantly to trabecular destruction beneath cartilage surfaces, substitutive fibrosis, and new bone formation. Subperiosteal abnormalities at these locations produce juxta-articular erosions. The presence of osteitis fibrosa cystica about multiple Schmorl's nodes within the thoracic vertebral bodies suggests that subchondral resorption beneath the cartilage end-plates of the spine may be associated with disk protrusions and represents one further example of hyperparathyroid joint disease.