OSTEITIS FIBROSA CYSTICA (ALBRIGHT)

Abstract

In April 1937 Albright and his co-workers in Boston reported 5 cases in which were presented the bizarre concurrent features of osteitis fibrosa cystica, areas of pigmentation of the skin and endocrine dysfunction, with premature puberty in the female patients. Although 12 similar cases had previously been reported in the literature under a variety of titles, beginning with Weil's report in 1922, the paper of Albright and his associates was the first to establish this peculiar syndrome as a clinical entity distinctly separate from, rather than an aberrant type of, one of the other known diseases affecting bone. For this reason and because there is no simple term to encompass all the prerequisite elements, in the "Standard Classified Nomenclature of Disease" the term "Osteitis Fibrosa Cystica (Albright)" has been adopted to identify this particular disease picture. <h3>CHARACTER OF THE SYNDROME</h3> The osseous disorder in this group of cases is one