[Massive osteolysis (Gorham-Stout's syndrome) with local neurofibromatosis (author's transl)]

The rare condition of massive osteolysis is illustrated by a 75-year-old man with involvement of the right arm which began at the age of 16. Serial radiographs over a period of 33 years are compared. In addition to the typical haemangiomatous vascular proliferation and connective tissue growth in the affected bone, there were also changes in the peripheral nerves, such as neurinomas and neurofibromas, which have not been previously described. Arteriography is usually not able to demonstrate the angiomatous tissue, but this was convincingly seen by means of sequential scintigraphy (99mTc-MDP). This finding, with absence of uptake on a subsequent bone scan, may be regarded as the typical isotope finding in massive osteolysis.