Skeletal changes and nephrocalcinosis in a case of athyreosis.

One of the well-known characteristic skeletal findings in athyreosis is retardation of bone maturation, the most common manifestations of which are delayed appearance of ossification centres of the carpal bones and the closure of the anterior fontanelle. Other evidences of this retardation of bone maturation have, however, been reported more recently and modern methods of research have shed new light on their pathogenesis. These changes are mostly localized in the vertebrae and the epiphyseal region of the long bones (Andersen, 1955; Debre, Mande and Abitol, 1948; Evans, 1952; Reilly and Smyth, 1937; Chaptal, Jean, Campo and Carli, 1956). Aside from delayed maturation, hyperostosis and nephrocalcinosis have also been occasionally observed (Naylor, 1955). The following case is of particular interest because it presented a combination of all the skeletal changes named above.