Microscopic bone pathology in two cases of surgically treated secondary hyperparathyroidism. Report of a distinct skeletal lesion.

We report bone biopsy findings in two hemodialysis patients with a history of secondary hyperparathyroidism treated by parathyroidectomy. Discrete, punched-out lesions in trabecular bone, which show little evidence of resorption or osteoblast activity, probably correspond to previous zones of osteoclastic tunneling resorption. Because we have seen these lesions in no other clinical setting, we suggest that they are residua of healed secondary hyperparathyroidism in dialysis patients. Their persistence may be due in part to aluminum intoxication.