JUVENILE OSTEOPETROSIS

Abstract

REPORTS of cases of osteopetrosis have hitherto dealt mostly with the clinical and pathologic aspects of this disease. Studies of the mineral balance and chemical analyses of the bones have been few in number. Laurell and Wallgren¹ were first to study the calcium balance in a 12 year old child suffering from osteopetrosis. They found positive calcium balances in all periods studied and "no tendency towards an abnormally high retention of calcium." Flood² found a positive calcium balance and a normal partition of this element between the urine and the stools in his case (the patient was a 12 year old girl). An outstanding observation in his case was of the presence of hypercalcemia. Bernhardt³ found in a 26 year old man a slightly negative calcium balance which became positive on the addition of tertiary calcium phosphate to the diet. The composition of the diet (with respect to