CALCIUM AND PHOSPHORUS METABOLISM IN PATIENTS WITH FRACTURES

Abstract

The exact mechanism by means of which calcium salts are deposited in areas of bone growth or bone repair is to a large extent unknown. While part, at least, of the process must take place at the site of growth or fracture, there is reason to believe that changes in the inorganic metabolism of the body may accompany and perhaps determine the deposition of bone salts. During the last three or four years, many investigations have been undertaken in the study of one of the frequently encountered diseases of childhood which produces marked changes in the osseous system; namely, rickets. These investigations included not only the experimental production of rickets in animals, but also the study of the inorganic metabolism in children with this disease. Howland and Kramer¹have shown that in rachitic infants the inorganic phosphate content of the blood serum is markedly reduced,'and that when healing occurs,