Morphogenesis of Vertebral Deformities in Involutional Osteoporosis. Age-related, Three-dimensional Trabecular Structure

Study Design: The relation between the semiquantitative data of alteration in three-dimensional trabecular structure and deformities of the vertebral body was analyzed to clarify the morphogenesis of vertebral deformities in involutional osteoporosis.

Objectives: To evaluate semiquantitatively the age-related alterations of the three-dimensional structure of trabeculae of the vertebral body and to clarify their relation to vertebral deformities in involutional osteoporosis.

Summary Of Background Data: Recent studies have shown that bone fractures and deformities in osteoporosis do not depend only on a reduced amount of bone tissue. There is no previous study on the relation between bone deformity and the alterations of the three-dimensional structure of trabeculae.

Methods: The second lumbar vertebrae were removed at autopsy from 25 patients who had no disease predisposing them to secondary osteoporosis and no severe vertebral deformities. The sections of the vertebral body were immersed in sodium hypochlorite solution to corrode the bone marrow. Atrophy of trabeculae and increased spacing between trabeculae were evaluated semiquantitatively under stereoscopic microscopy. The authors examined the relation between the semiquantitative data found in the autopsy vertebrae and the patterns and frequencies of each deformity of the second lumbar vertebrae in 99 patients with involutional osteoporosis.

Results: The most frequent vertebral deformity was wedge-shaped vertebrae with compression of the anterosuperior portion, and the alterations of the trabecular structure of the anterosuperior portion were severe and closely related to aging. Severe trabecular alterations with no relation to aging did not necessarily cause vertebral deformity.

Conclusions: Trabecular abnormality, which is significantly correlated with aging, may be the necessary and sufficient condition for vertebral deformities in involutional osteoporosis.