[Back pain and dorsal kyphosis in childhood]

Juvenile idiopathic osteoporosis (JIO) is a rare condition of unknown aetiology, with pre-pubertal onset and frequently spontaneous remission after puberty. We report a case of a 14 years old boy, which two years before began dorso-lumbar pain with dorsal kyphosis. At the age of 12, he was on percentil 25 for height and had no other symptoms or alterations on physical exam. He had multiple vertebral fractures, a low serum vitamin D, and a Z-score in lumbar spine of -5,3. Diagnosis of JIO was made after excluding other causes of juvenile osteoporosis. He was submitted to pamidronate therapy and after six months showed clinical and bone mineral density improvement. At the age of 14 he is asymptomatic. The authors present this clinical case because of is rarity and to point out that although many cases have spontaneous remission, without any therapy, some may persist and become more serious, with pain and multiple fractures, justifying therapeutic intervention.