Several types of pathological bony overgrowth are known from various dinosaur taxa but, except for stress fractures, are rarely reported from appendicular elements. Herein we describe pathological manual and pedal phalanges of a camarasaurid sauropod…
Enthesophytes and enthesopathy, while easy to define, represent a phenomenon of unclear clinical significance. As the high frequency in skeletal populations suggests that enthesopathy may not be disease-specific, the nature of the reaction was…
Two unusual bumps occur on the internal surface of a rib of the marine reptile Prognathodon saturator from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Maastricht, The Netherlands. These bumps are interpreted as stress fractures, possibly related to…
Decompression syndrome (caisson disease or the "the bends") resulting in avascular necrosis has been documented in mosasaurs, sauropterygians, ichthyosaurs, and turtles from the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous, but it was unclear that this disease…
The osseous appearance, skeletal distribution, and distinguishing features of calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease (CPPD) were delineated in a population of 2906 contemporary defleshed skeletons. The limitations of routine x-ray and clinical…
Examination of a contemporary skeletal collection revealed a rheumatoid subgroup with parameters mirroring those of contemporary clinical populations. This rheumatoid population was also indistinguishable from contemporary (live) clinical…
Calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease (CPPD), a form of crystalline arthritis, has a unique distribution in the Early to Middle Archaic Periods (3000 to 8000 years before the present) of North America, contrasting with the generalized geographic…
Shared characteristics and concurrent occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthropathy in contemporary populations have compromised development of clear diagnostic criteria for distinguishing them. Although modern populations contain…
Diagnosis of diseases of bone, without benefit of soft tissue, in vivo observation, or blood component analysis requires the development of new criteria for diagnosis. Analyzing chimpanzee skeletal populations, applying such criteria (e.g., lesion…
Uncertainties as to the nature and implications of osteoarthritis and calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease (CPPD) in primates were subject to critical review through examination of 153 prosimians and 1,250 Old World non-prosimian primates.…
Presence of spine and sacroiliac involvement and the nature and distribution of the erosive lesions allow definitive diagnosis of spondyloarthropathy. Thus, spondyloarthropathy was identified in Theropithecus, Papio, Cercopithecus, Macaca, Colobus,…
Analyses of New World skeletal populations for the presence of erosions an other osseous alterations and their character, distribution, and radiologic appearance shows that osteoarthritis is predominantly a disease of animals raised in artificially…
Bone and joint alterations were characterized in the skeletons of 498 individuals age 64+ who died in Northeast Ohio between 1913 and 1933. Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, rare in young individuals, was found in 27% of men over age 65,…
As the arboreal ape, Pongo, has an unusual ground ambulation adaptation, it was of interest to assess the impact of Pongo gait on patterns of arthritis. While osteoarthritis was not identified in Pongo, 11% of individual skeletons were afflicted with…
Recognition of cancer in extreme antiquity has been limited to osteomas in mosasaurs and haemangiomas and growths of unclear origin in dinosaurs. We describe a metastatic cancer in a dinosaur.
Recognition of muscle attachment sites and their modification has been an important tool in anthropologic and paleontologic research, but has been compromised by limited ability to recognise sites of tendinous attachments. We investigated bone-tendon…
Noting the common occurrence of arthritis in contemporary elephants, a skeletal study was undertaken to assess the frequency and nature of the affliction. Spondyloarthropathy was unequivocally diagnosed in mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) and…
Occasional reports in isolated fragments of dinosaur bones have suggested that tumors might represent a population phenomenon. Previous study of humans has demonstrated that vertebral radiology is a powerful diagnostic tool for population screening.…
Study of ancient disease (paleopathology) is a powerful tool for understanding lifestyle and population dynamics, as well as the history of disease in antiquity. The major premise of paleopathology is that diagnoses of conditions of living animals…
Recognition of avascular necrosis through propodial head subsidence in fossils indicates that plesiosaurs were susceptible to decompression syndrome and implies deep, prolonged or repetitive diving behavior for these animals. Contrary to the…
OBJECTIVE: Definition of the nature of calcaneal "erosions" in sickle cell anemia. METHODS: Skeletons of individuals demonstrated to have had sickle cell anemia were examined for the presence of calcaneal surface discontinuity. RESULTS: Calcaneal and…
This study was conducted to characterize macroscopically and by conventional radiography the bony lesions in a case of Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia and to compare and contrast it with those of the other major hematologic lymphoproliferative…
