Abstract
Case 1. 10-years-old boy visited us with chief complaint of lumbago. He had no history of trauma in past. Tuberculin test became positive 4 years ago. Roentogenograms revealed slight flattening of the body of the second lumbar vertebra and narrowing of the inter vertebral space between the first and the second lumbar vertebra. He was diagnosed as tuberculous spondylitis, for which antituberculosis drugs were administered, and later surgery was performed. Roentogenographic examinations conducted 2 months after the operation revealed flattening and wegge formation due to compression. Roentogenograms taken 3 months after the operation showed the vertebra had been reduced of its thickness of a wafer, a finding typical of vertebra Plana Calve. The recovery process became evident on the front edge of the vertebral body about a year and 6 months after the operation, and the thickness of the vertebral body increased to about 4 times.
Case 2. 7-years-old boy visited us with chief complaint of back ache. No history of trauma was obtained and the tuberculin test still remainded negative. Roentogenograms showed slight flattening and appreciable sclerosing of the body of the eighth thoracic verte bra. Destruction of the bone was also noticeable along the front edge of the vertebral body. Six months after the first visit, the vertebral body became markedly dense and conspicuously flattened due to compression, but below the afflicted vertebra remained normal. No recovery process could be found as yet.
These two cases presented quite similar X-ray findings, in which one would encounter at the initial stage of tuberculous spondylitis, but repeated examination and continued obserrvation led to diagnosis of vertebra Plana Calve. Vertebral caries should be considered first as differential, but it has become clear recently that eosinophilic granuloma should also be taken into account as differential. The study of other reports as well as our 2 cases compels us to agree with the theory that the cause should be sought in primary circulatory disorder.
