Abstract
Epiphyseal plates (upper and distal femur, tibia) of 100 children from 0-15 years were studied in undecalcified sections. The children came to autopsy after sudden death without immobilization or after immobilization due to disease of various duration. Micromorphometric data were obtained by quantitative measurements of the epiphyseal cartilage and the metaphyseal spongiosa (parameters after SCHENK: volumetric density, surface density, specific surface, surface fraction of osteoid, osteoblasts and osteoclasts). Mineralization of cartilage and of spongiosal trabeculae was revealed by microradiography. Our data document that duration of disease as well as kind of disease (renal failure, cardiac failure, tumor, leukemia, liver disease, malabsorption, infectious disease) have profound effects on longitudinal growth (growth arrest), on bone density, cellular activity and on the vascularization of the growth apparatus.
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Krempien, B., Mehls, O., Ritz, E. et al. Micromorphometric and microradiographic studies of the growth apparatus of normal and diseased children. Pediatr Res 8, 896 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197411000-00021
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197411000-00021