1/5. Thoracic spine arachnoid ossification with and without cord cavitation. Report of three cases.Thoracic spine arachnoid ossification is a relatively rare disease that affects mainly women and causes sensory, motor, and sphinctal symptoms associated with inferior limb pain. Based on three cases, the authors comment on pathogenic and surgery-related aspects of the disease. The patient in Case 1 was followed over the course of 23 years. Spinal cavitation is highlighted in Case 2, and yellow, gross, half-ring ossification is described in Case 3. calcium deposits usually occur in the middle and lower thoracic spine where the majority of trabeculated arachnoid cells are located. Operative treatment does not interrupt the ossification process, which continues over time, causing progressive deterioration in the patient. Spinal cavitation can occur due to spinal cord tethering, stretching, and central cord edema formation, accompanied by cerebrospinal fluid blockage and pulse pressure changes. The results of surgical intervention are poor, offering short-term recovery with later deterioration. Multiple pathogenic factors are involved in this clinical syndrome including metabolic changes.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = rare disease (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/5. Tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica: report of three cases.Tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica (TO) is a rare disease characterized by the presence of osseous and cartilaginous submucosal nodules in the tracheobronchial tree. The majority of patients remain asymptomatic; however, a small number develop severe airway stenosis. Symptoms may include dyspnea, hoarseness, cough, hemoptysis, and recurrent pneumonia. Plain chest X-ray films are often unremarkable but may demonstrate atelectasis, consolidation, tracheal nodularity, or narrowing. CT reveals tracheal nodularity with calcification and narrowing. This article reviews the cross-sectional imaging characteristics of TO.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = rare disease (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/5. Familial clustering of dendriform pulmonary ossification.Dendriform pulmonary ossification is an extremely rare disease, which is usually found and analysed postmortem. Pathogenesis of pulmonary ossification is therefore still unknown. We describe two males in the same family (a 29 year-old patients and his 58 year-old father) with pulmonary ossification. The young male was symptomatic pneumothorax but his father had been asymptomatic since youth. Familial clustering of pulmonary ossifications strongly suggests a genetic predisposition for the pathogenesis. This is the first report of two cases of dendriform pulmonary ossification in the same family.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = rare disease (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/5. Axial transverse tomography of the cervical spine narrowed by ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament.Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament in the cervical region is generally regarded as a rare disease, though a Japanese series of 185 cases has been reported. The main symptoms arise from a myelopathy, the degree of which varies from moderate to severe, due to stenosis of the spinal canal. In order to clarify the relationship between the severity of symptoms and the cross-sectional area of ossification, axial transverse tomography of the cervical spine has been carried out on twenty-six patients at intervals of 5 millimetres over the full extent of the ossification. In this way the cross-sectional areas of the ossified tissue and of the spinal canal were calculated. The former varied from a minimum of 0.8 to a maximum of 1.8 square centimetres. In cases of severe myelopathy the ossification was mainly at the fourth and fifth cervical levels and the stenosis ration exceeded 30 per cent.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = rare disease (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/5. A case report of idiopathic pulmonary ossification.Idiopathic pulmonary ossification is a rare disease. Most commonly, it affects middle-aged men. Its etiology is unknown. We present a case of nodular type idiopathic pulmonary ossification in a 42-year-old, white male who had one episode of hemoptysis.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = rare disease (Clic here for more details about this article) |