Phalangeal microgeodic syndrome of infancy.

Phalangeal Microgeodic Syndrome Resulting in Rapid Digital Shortening

“…Radiographically, the affected phalanges show a mixture of osteolysis and osteosclerosis, with periosteal reactions in some cases. [1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9][10] In most cases, the condition can be diagnosed by clinical and radiographic findings, and does not require biopsy or surgical treatment. [1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9][10] The prognosis of patients with phalangeal microgeodic syndrome is excellent.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9][10] The term microgeodic was coined because of the occurrence of small radiolucent spots approximately 1 mm in diameter in the radiographs. A geode is defined as a hollow usually spheroidal rock with crystals lining the inside walls.…”

Phalangeal microgeodic syndrome in childhood: Report of seven cases and review of the literature

“…Thereafter three reports have appeared in the international literature. MacCarthy and O'Brien [6] reported a case of an Irish infant in 1976, under the term used by Taybi. In the same year, Sugiura et al [12] reported eight cases of Japanese which included an infant and seven children.…”

“…The clinical features were characterized by swelling, redness, heat and minimal pain of the fingers, and the radiographic features by widening of the finger phalanges with small lacunae. The prognosis of this syndrome was fairly good with spontaneous regression [6,7,12,15]. Despite the fact that we know very little about the basic mechanism underlying the development of this syndrome, descriptive morphology is still important as it frequently leads to recognition of further cases and ultimately to in-* Corresponding author formation on the etiology.…”

“…Thereafter at least three more reports have appeared [6,12,15] in which not only infants but also children were included. The clinical and radiographic pictures of this entity in children were almost identical to those described by Maroteaux [7].…”