Osteitis fibrosa cystica (OFC) is the most frequent type of osseous change in renal osteodystrophy affecting the majority of dialysis patients. Brown tumors are a severe form of OFC. The involvement of the craniofacial skeleton causing facial disfigurement in patients on dialysis appears to be limited to case reports. After searching PubMed, we performed a systematic review of 127 cases with a severe form of OFC resulting in a facial disfigurement to understand possible determinants for this condition. We found that since the first published case in 1974, and after a peak in 1996, there appears to be an increase in published reported cases. Only 27.6% of these cases were published in nephrology journals. The most common region for reported cases was North America. Mean age of these patients was 31.2 years with a mean dialysis duration of 7 years. Almost 67% were women, and almost all were on hemodialysis. The disease tended to most commonly localize to the maxilla (73.2%) and mandible (57.5%). As part of the treatment, 59% of patients had a parathyroidectomy. More than one-third (35.4%) had symptomatic improvement at follow-up. Mean follow-up was 1.6 years. Clinicians should be aware of this clinical presentation of a severe form of OFC and/or brown tumors. Timely diagnosis and intervention may help to prevent or decrease destructive bone changes and reduce negative psychological consequences of facial disfigurement.

Over the past 20 years, the role of psychological and social factors, including the physician-patient working alliance, have emerged as integral components of medical care for patients with a myriad of health conditions. The current study examines a model comprised of psychological-interpersonal factors and the extent to which it explains patient satisfaction with and adherence to hemodialysis treatment. One hundred and seven adults with end-stage renal disease who were receiving regular outpatient hemodialysis participated in the study. Path analyses show that the physician-patient working alliance indirectly predicts patient adherence through patient satisfaction and patients' outcome expectations. The working alliance directly predicts patients' quality of life. It is concluded that consistent with previous research, the physician-patient working alliance is a significant factor in predicting key patient behaviors in medical care.