Chondrodystrophia foetalis in the foetus and the infant

Abstract

1. Two definite varieties of chondrodystrophia foetalis can be recognised clinically as well as microscopically.

2. It is a general disease, affecting many tissues but mainly those parts of the skeleton developed in cartilage.

3. A definite diagnosis can always.be made with the aid of X-rays.

4. The disease is present before ossification commences in any given bone and results in defective preparation for ossification in cartilage, causing a deficient attraction of true bone-forming cells.

5. It is highly probable that softness i of the skeleton due to disease affecting the cartilage, enables mechanical influences, most likely pressure of the amnion, to cause the deformities of achondroplasia.

6. The knowledge we possess of the metabolic influence of the pituitary and sexual glands points to an abnormal function of either or both of these structures as the most likely agent to cause the disturbance in the cartilage and elsewhere.