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Infantile scurvy: Still a relevant differential diagnosis in Western medicine
Desirée Schwetje1, Anne Zillekens1, Jan-Dirk Kieback1
1University Hospital Bonn, Department of Orthopedics and traumatology, Bonn, Germany.
Insights
Infantile scurvy, or Moller-Barlow's disease, remains a concern in disabled children, causing bone issues and bruising. Prompt vitamin C treatment led to rapid recovery in two chronically ill patients.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Nutritional Science
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Infantile scurvy (Moller-Barlow's disease) is often underestimated in Western countries.
- Symptoms include delayed bone healing, fractures, bruising, and epiphysiolysis, particularly in disabled children.
- Chronic illness can mask or exacerbate scurvy symptoms.
Objective:
Infantile scurvy or Moller-Barlow's disease appears to be of no further importance in Western countries; however, this is a careless assumption. In severely disabled children especially, this malady manifests itself in a broad range of symptoms such as delayed or suppressed bone healing, minor traumatization leading to bruises or fractures, and epiphysiolysis.
Methods:
The aim of this article was to present the required daily uptake of vitamin C and the biochemical pathways in the human body leading to the typical symptoms of scurvy. Two cases of chronic scurvy with prolonged bone healing and bleeding, epiphysiolysis, and gingival hyperplasia are presented. Both patients were chronically ill with one having cerebral palsy and the other a neuroblastoma of the adrenal gland.
Results:
After diagnosis, the substitution of vitamin C via percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in both patients was necessary to treat them. Both patients quickly achieved a full recovery.
Conclusion:
The two patients presented show the importance of infantile scurvy in daily medical care. The prevalence of scurvy is often underestimated in severely disabled or chronically ill children.
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