Induction of osteochondromas by periosteal resection

Forty immature and 40 mature rabbits which received periosteal resection from the proximal metaphyses or diaphyses of tibiae were evaluated for the occurrence of osteochondromas at the sites of periosteal defects. Thirteen of 20 immature tibiae with the periosteal defects at their proximal metaphyses showed osteochondromas covered by hyaline cartilage caps. We assume that the occurrence of osteochondroma at the metaphyseal region of growing long bone, where the periosteal defects were made, is due primarily to a decrease in the power of the periosteum to control the circumferential growth of the metaphysis, and is due secondarily to an abnormal proliferation of cartilage progenitors located in Ranvier's groove.