What diseases affect the bone?
Osteoporosis. Osteoporosis, or porous bone, is a disease characterized by low bone mass and structural deterioration of bone tissue. This means you may be more likely to get fractures in locations such as the hip, spine, and wrist. Osteoporosis develops when bone resorption occurs too rapidly and bone formation fails to keep up. It is more likely to develop if your bones do not achieve their optimal mass during your bone-building years. Men as well as women suffer from osteoporosis, a disease that can be prevented and treated.
Paget’s disease. Paget's disease is a chronic disorder that typically results in enlarged and deformed bones. In this disease, the breakdown and formation of bone tissue is excessive. As a result, bone can weaken, resulting in bone pain, arthritis, deformities, and fractures. This disease may be caused by a "slow virus" infection that is in your body for many years before symptoms appear. It may also be inherited, since the disease has been known to appear in more than one family member. Paget's disease is rarely diagnosed in people under 40 years of age. Men and women are affected equally.
Bone metastasis. Cancer cells that leave the (primary) tumor and enter the bloodstream can take up residence in nearly every tissue of the body. Bones are one of the most common sites for these circulating cells to settle and start growing again. Metastases can occur in bones that are near or far from the primary tumor site. Metastatic bone disease is not the same as primary bone cancer. Primary bone cancer refers to a cancer that starts in bone. Bone metastasis and primary bone cancer differ in their risk factors, treatments, and outlook. Primary bone cancer is much less common than bone metastasis. Bone metastasis is one of the most frequent causes of pain in patients with cancer.
About half of all people who have cancer (except those with skin cancer) develop bone metastasis at some point in the course of their disease. Breast, prostate, kidney, lung, pancreas, colorectal, stomach, thyroid, and ovarian cancers account for most metastases to bones. The spine is the area most often affected by bone metastasis, followed by the pelvis, hip, upper leg bones (femurs), and the skull.
Vitamin D deficiency. The main role of vitamin D is to help regulate the absorption of calcium, phosphorus, and (to a lesser extent) magnesium. Vitamin D is vital for the growth and health of bone; without it, bones will be soft, malformed, and unable to repair themselves normally, resulting in diseases called rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.
Rickets. Rickets is progressive disease in children that involves the softening and weakening of bones. It is a disease that results from a lack of Vitamin D, calcium, and phosphate that may be a result of dietary or genetic factors or malabsorption disorders. Other conditions, such as kidney disease, may cause a deficiency of these vitamins and minerals resulting in rickets.
Kidney disease. Patients with chronic kidney failure can have problems with their bones due to the kidney’s inability to clear phosphorus from the system. When phosphorus is not cleared adequately from the blood, calcium levels in the blood become low and can lead to a loss of calcium from the bones. The parathyroid glands may become too active and not enough vitamin D is converted to an active form to be used by the body. Over time, these factors lead to a loss of calcium in the bones, causing them to weaken.
Hyperparathyroidism. Parathyroid hormone (PTH) helps regulate the amount of calcium in the blood and in the bones. Normally, the same level of calcium leaves the bones and enters the blood as is absorbed by the bones from the blood. When the parathyroid glands become too active, releasing too much parathyroid hormone, more calcium leaves the bones than is being absorbed by them, resulting in a net loss of calcium from the bones. Overactive parathyroid glands can lead to weakened bones.
