Muskuloskeletal Flashcards
What is metabolic bone disease?
A group of diseases that cause a decrease in bone density and bone strength by:
1) Increasing bone resorption
2) Decreasing bone formation
- May be associated with disturbances in mineral metabolism
Give examples of metabolic bone diseases?
- Primary hyperparathyroidism
- Rickets/Osteomalacia
- Osteoporosis
- Paget’s disease
- Renal osteodystrophy
What are the symptoms of metabolic bone diseases?
Metabolic: Hypocalcaemia, hypercalcaemia, hypo/hyperphosphataemia Bone: Deformity, Fractures
How is calcium stored in the bone?
- Inorganic hydroxyapatite
What are the factors that contribute to bone strength?
Quantity: - Cortical thickness - Mineral density - Size Quality - Architecture - Bone turnover - Cortical porosity - Trabecular connectivity
How can bone structure and function be assessed?
- Bone histology
- Biochemical tests
- Bone mineral densitometry e.g. osteoporosis
- Radiology e.g. osteomalacia, Paget’s disease
What are the serum features investigated in metabolic bone disease?
Calcium, corrected calcium, albumin, phosphate, parathyroid hormone, 25-hydroxy vitamin D
What are the urine features investigated in metabolic bone disease?
NTX
Calcium
Phosphate
Where does absorption of calcium occur?
Jejunum and ileum
Passive or active (vit D controlled)
What is the total serum calcium?
2.15-2.56 mmol/L
What is the role of PTH in plasma calcium regulation?
- Predominant role in minute by minute regulation
- Afferent-limb sensing
- If calcium drops, within seconds there is secretion of PTH from pre-formed stores
- Acts on bone and kidney
What is the affect of PTH on the bone?
- Increased resorption
- Release of Ca++ and phoshphate
What is the affect of PTH on the kidney?
- Increased phosphate excretion
- Increased calcium reabsorption
- Increased calcitorol formation leading to increased intestinal CaH04 absorption
What does serum calcium consist of?
46% protein-bound
47% ionised
7% complexes
What is the calcium sensing receptor?
Links serum calcium to the PTH gland
How does PTH release calcium from the bone?
- Activates the RANK system
- Osteoblast has rank ligand on its membrane, interacts with macrophages which stimulate osteoclasts
Where does PTH activate vitamin D in the kidney?
In the proximal tubule of the kidney
Where does PTH increase calcium re-absorption in the kidney?
Distal tubule of the kidney
Where does PTH decrease phosphate re-absorption in the kidney??
Proximal tubule
What are the causes of primary hyperparathyroidism?
- Parathyroid adenoma
- Parathyroid hyperplasia
- Parathyroid CA
- Familial syndroms (MEN 1, MEN 2A)
What is the biochemistry of primary hyperparathyroidism?
- Increased serum calcium by absorption from bone/gut/kidney
- Decreased serum P04, increased absorption is overcome by marked renal excretion
- Increased urine calcium excretion as increased renal resorption is overcome by the hugely increased filtered load
- Increased markers of bone resorption
What are the clinical features of primary hyperparathyroidism?
- Mainly due to high calcium: thirst, polyuria, tiredness, fatigue, muscle weakness
‘Stones, abdominal moans and psychic groans’ - Renal colic, nephrocalcinosis, CRF
- Dyspepsia, pancreatitis
- Constipation, nausea, anorexia
- Depression, impaired concentration
- Drowsy, coma
How is primary hyperparathyroidism managed?
- Depends on age and severity
- Very young or high calcium patients have a huge risk of developing complications such as osteoporosis, renal stone and renal failure therefore surgery is necessary
- Other management is conservative, focuses on preventing complications using bisphospnoates and calcimemetics
What is osteomalacia?
Inadequate vitamin D activity which leads to defective mineralisation of the cartilaginous growth plate (before a low calcium)
What are the symptoms of osteomalacia?
- Bone pain and tenderness (axial)
- Muscle weakness (proximal)
- Lack of play
What are the signs of osteomalacia?
- Age dependent deformity
- Myopathy
- Hypotonia
- Short stature
- Tenderness of percussion
What are the causes of osteomalacia?
- Vitamin D related which may be dietary
- Gastrointestinal: Small bowel malabsorption, bypass, Pancreatic insufficiency, Liver/biliary disturbance,
Drugs: phenytoin, phenobarbitone - Renal: chronic renal failure, vitamin D dependent rickets type I, autosomal recessive, no 1a hydroxylation
- Resistance: vitamin D dependent rickets type II, autosome recessive
What is the biochemistry of osteomalacia?
Calcium= N/low Phosphate= N/low Alkaline phosphate= High PTH= High Urine phosphate= high -Glycosuria, aminoaciduria, high pH and proteinuria
How does osteomalacia relate to phosphate?
Can get osteomalacia with renal phosphate loss, when calcium and Vitamin D levels are usually normal
How does oestrogen deficiency affect bone?
1) Increases the activation frequency of remodelling units (number of osteoblasts and blasts)
2) Causes remodelling imbalance
- Decreases osteoclast apoptosis apoptosis, increases osteoblast apoptosis
- Deeper and more resorption pits
- Increased bone resorption compared to bone formation
3) Remodelling errors
- Trabecular perforation
- Cortical excess Haversian excavation
4) Decreased osteocyte sensing
What are the causes of osteoporosis due to high turnover?
Increased bone resorption greater than bone formation
- Oestrogen deficiency- primarily in postmenopausal women
- Hyperparathyoidism
- Hyperthyroidism
- Hypogonadism in young women and in men
- Heparin
What are the causes of osteoporosis due to low turnover?
Decrease bone formation more pronounced than decreased bone resorption
- Liver disease- primarily primary biliary cirrhosis
- Heparin
- Age above 50
What are the causes of osteoporosis due to increased bone resorption and decrease bone formation?
Glucocorticoids
What is the biochemistry of osteoporosis?
Should be normal but check for vit D deficiency and secondary endocrine causes
- Exclude multiple myeloma
Why should bone density be measured?
Single best predictor of fracture risk BMD represents 70% of total risk
What is DXA?
Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry
- Measureres transmission through the body of X-rays of two different photon energies
- Enables densities of two different tissues to be inferred i.e. bone mineral, soft tissue
How is osteoporosis defined by T-score?
Measured BMD- young adult mean BMD
/young adult standard deviation
What situations interfere with vertebral measurement interpretations?
- Degenerative change, osteoarthritis
- Vertebral fractures
- Metal artefacts
- Osteomalacia
- Vascular calcification
- Scoliosis
- Paget’s disease
How is collagen synthesised for bone formation?
Alpha 1 and 2 chains of type I collagen produced by osteoblast
- Proline and lysine residues hydroxylated
- 3 hydroxylysine molecules on adjacent tropocollagen fibrils condense to form a pyridinum ring linkage
- Collagen breakdown products are good markers of bone resorption as they are directly linked to the amount of bone resorbed
How is osteoclast activity measures?
By measuring urine hydroxyproline or urine-collagen cross-links
What are markers of bon resorption?
Serum CTX
NTX
Tartrate resistant acid phosphatase
What is bone specific alkaline phosphate? (BSAP_
- Tissue specific form: liver vs bone, intestine, germ cell, placental forms
- Essential for mineralisation, regulates concentrations of phosphocompounds
- Increased in Paget’s disease osteomalacia, bone metastases, hyperparathyroidism, hyperthyroidism
What is tertiary hyperparathyroidism?
- Due to chronic renal impairment
- Nephron loss> reduce production of active calcitrol
- Reduced vit d levels leads to osteomalacia
- Deceased calcitrol leads to hypoacalcaemia, secondary PTH increase, increased bone resportion
- Nephron loss leads to phosphate retendtion causing hyperphosphataemia, leading to metastatic calcification
- Nephron loss causes acidosis which causes demineralisation contributing to osteoporosis
What is the function of bone?
- Mechanical: support and site for muscle attachment
- Protective: vital organs and bone marrow
- Metabolic: reserve of calcium
What is the composition of bone?
- INORGANIC - 65%
– calcium hydroxyapatite (10Ca 6PO4 OH2) – is storehouse for 99% of Ca in the body
– 85% of the phosphorous, 65% Na & Mg - ORGANIC - 35%
– bone cells and protein matrix
How is bone classified?
Cortical: Long bones, 80% of skeleton, appendicular, 80-90% calcified, mainly mechanical and protective Cancellous: - Vertebrae & pelvis, 20% of skeleton - Axial - 15-25% calcified - Mainly metabolic - Large surface
What are the indications for use of bone biopsy?
- Investigating an abnormality seen on an x-ray
- Evaluate bone pain or tenderness
- Bone tumour diagnosis (benign vs malignant)
- Determining the cause of unexplained infection
- Evaluating the progress of therapy
What are the types of bone biopsies?
- Close: used most commonly as poses smallest risk
- Open: for sclerotic or inaccessible lesions
What are the different bone cells?
- Osteoblasts: build bone by laying down osteoid
- Osteoclasts: multinucleate cells of macrophage family resorb or chew bone
- Osteocytes: osteoblast like cells which sit in the lacunae in bone
What is RANK?
Receptor activator for nuclear factor kB
What is OPG?
Osteoprotegerin-
Inhibits RANK/RANKL binding therefore inhibiting osteoclastogenesis
How are types of bone classified anatomically?
1) Anatomically- flat/long/cuboid bones
- Intramembranous ossification (flat) and endochrondral ossification (long)
2) Trabecular bone (cancellous)
3) Compact bone (cortical)
4) Women bone (immature)
5) Lamellar bone (mature)
What is metabolic bone disease?
- Disordered bone turnover due to imbalance of various chemicals in the body (vitamins, hormones, mienrals)
- Overall effect is reduced bone mass (osteopaenia) which often results in fracture with little or no trauma
What are the 3 main categories of metabolic bone disease?
1) Related to endocrine abnormality (Vit D; Parathyroid hormone)
2) Non-endocrine (e.g. related osteoporosis)
3) Disuse osteopaenia
What is osteomalacia?
Defective bone mineralisation
Types:
1) Deficiency of vitamin D
2) Deficiency of P04
What is the mechanism of osteomalacia?
- Vitamin D plays integral role in calcium metabolism
- Vit D deficiency results in increased PTH and subsequent increase bone resorption
- Vit D deficiency also cause hypocalcaemia
What are the effects of osteomalacia?
- Bone pain/tenderness
- Fracture
- Proximal weakness
- Bone deformity
What is hyperparathyroidism?
Excess PTH
- Increased Ca + P04 excretion in urine
- Hypophosphataemia
- Skeletal changes of osteitis fibrosa cystica
Which 4 organs are directly or indirectly affected by PTH and between them control Ca metabolism?
- Parathyroid glands
- Bones
- Kidneys
- Proximal small intestine
What are the difference between primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism?
Primary: - Parathyroid adenoma - Chief cell hyperplasia Secondary: - Chronic renal deficiency - Vit D deficiency
What is renal osteodystrophy?
Results from from chronic renal disease. Comprises all skeletal change of chronic renal disease:
- Increased bone resorption (osteitis fibrosa cystica)
- Osteomalacia
- Osteosclerosis
- Growth retardation
- Osteoporosis
What are the symptoms of osteodystrophy?
- PO4 retention – hyperphosphataemia
- Hypocalcaemia as a result of ↓vit D
- Secondary hyperparathyroidism
- Metabolic acidosis
- Aluminium deposition
What is Paget’s disease?
- Disorder of bone turnover Divided into 3 stages 1) Osteolytic 2) Osteolytic-osteosclerotic 3) Quiescent osteosclerotic
What are the clinical symptoms of Paget’s disease?
- Pain
- Microfractures
- Nerve compression
- Skull changes may put medulla at risk
- Deafness
- +/- haemodynamic changes, cardiac failure
- Hypercalcaemia
- Development of sarcoma in area of involvement
What is a Haversian canal?
Channel that the blood vessels run in the bone
What are Canaliculae?
Provide routes for cell communication
What is Howship’s lacunae?
Pits in the bone surface in which osteoclasts are found, often called resorption bays
What is ‘Codfish vertebra’?
In osteomalacia
- Biconcave loss of height
- Osteopenic
- Pencilled-in margin