[Variations in bone calcium content as a function of various pathological or iatrogenic disorders (author's transl)]

Bone calcium content was studied in 200 children who had received long-term therapy with anticonvulsants or corticoids, or who presented retarded growth (more particularly, pituitary deficiency treated with somatotropin, thyroid deficiency treated with thyroid extracts, or Turner's syndrome). It was demonstrated that 25 p. cent of children on anticonvulsant therapy, 30 p. cent of those on corticoid treatment, and nearly all those with retarded growth had a mineral content much below normal levels. Bone densitometry by absorption of a monochromatic iodine-125 beam is a rapid, precise method, which is not dangerous at the dose delivered, and appears to be well adapted for surveillance of children with anomalies in calcium content.