Multiple benign schwannomas of the foot.

Benign schwannomas occur very rarely in the foot. We report a case of a 46-year-old patient with multiple benign schwannomas of the foot. Eighteen schwannomas associated with the medial plantar nerve present for at least 1 year were excised, with preservation of the involved nerve and disappearance of the patient's symptoms.

[Assessment of surgically treated vertebral fractures of the thoracic and lumbar spine without neurological complications].

The progress of surgical treatment of spine fractures leads to new problems in the assessment of these patients. Possible consequences of this treatment are discussed (especially approach-caused faults in muscle or pulmonary function). Beside the length and localisation of the fusion the strain on the adjacent movement segments have to be considered.

[The importance of serological parameters in the diagnosis and therapy monitoring of osteoporosis].

60 female patients with osteoporosis are examined to analyse several parameters of the blood serum relative to their value for diagnosis and therapeutic results. Osteocalcin seems to be a specific factor of the serum to determine formation of bone. The activity of the alkaline phosphatase as an indicator for new formation of bone and the concentration of hydroxyproline in the urine as an indicator for bone resorption are not sensitive enough, to detect slight changes in metabolic bone processes.

Analogous effects of organic calcium antagonists and magnesium on the epiphyseal growth plate.

High doses of both calcium antagonists and magnesium lead to disorders in the early phase of calcification. Analogous to known mechanisms of calcification outside the bone, the calcium overload of cellular suborganelles, which may play a role in enchondral ossification, is assumed to be prevented or delayed by calcium antagonists and magnesium. In accordance with the relevant literature, which describes analogous cytoprotective effects of calcium antagonists and magnesium in association with extraskeletal calcification and ossification, the qualitative agreement of histologic findings in the epiphyseal growth plate suggests a homologous, primarily intracellular mechanism of action of both magnesium and organic calcium antagonists.

Effects of propane-2, 2-diphosphonate (PDP) on matrix-induced ectopic bone formation in comparison to ethane-1-hydroxy-1, 1-diphosphonate (EHDP).

The most prominent effect of propane-2, 2-diphosphonate (PDP) and ethane-1-hydroxy-1, 1-diphosphonate (EHDP) on matrix-induced ectopic bone in the rat was a dose-dependent inhibition of osteogenesis in the early phases of development. The delay was seen as a consequence of osteoprogenitor cell inhibition. Additionally, later phases of bone maturation were disturbed by interference with the mineralization and remodeling processes.