Fibrous Dysplasia: a Review

Fibrous dysplasia (FD) is a benign intramedullary fibroosseous lesion originally described by Lichtenstein in 1938 and by Lichtenstein and Jaffe in 1942. 1 This is a benign dysplastic process of altered osteogenesis that may occur within a single bone (monostotic) or multiple bones (polyostotic), 2 and is best understood as a dysplastic anomaly of bone forming mesenchymal tissue. 3 It is a sporadic benign skeletal disorder that can affect one bone (monostotic form), or multiple bones (polyostotic form) which forms a part of the McCune Albright syndrome (MAS) or of the Jaffe Lichtenstein syndrome. 4 The hallmark of the disease is a solitary focal, or generalized multifocal inability of bone forming tissue to produce mature lamellar bone, and an arrest at the level of woven bone. 3