[Biochemical and x-ray changes in thyroid osteopathy]

Moderately elevated calcemia, increased urine calcium excretion, normal values of phosphate clearance and tubular phosphate resorption, elevated alkaline phosphatase were found in 50 patients with clinically confirmed thyrotoxicosis. With calcium loading, an essential calcium elevation in serum was determined as well as a delayed restoration to the norm of the latter, providing grounds to admit an insufficiency of hypocalcemia leading systems, thyrocalcitonine resp. The characteristic features of the X-ray changes observed are described, especially of osteoporosis. The bone changes were established to be more frequent among females (64% versus 204 among males). They increase in parallel with age advancing, during and severity of the disease. The special X-grams for fine analysis of bone structure according to Meema-Heunk enable the confirmation of intracortical striation in metacarpal bones and phalanges in 56.7 per cent of the examined.