The Patient with “Myelogenous Osteopathy”

Abstract

Neumann and Bizzozero published almost simultaneously in 1868 that the bone marrow and the bone are closely interrelated organs. The term “haematic osteodysplasia” was first introduced by Gaensslen in 1938 to describe the effects on the skull caused by congenital haemolytic anaemias, i.e. the typical “hair-on-end” appearance of the cranial bones. Subsequently, Rohr in 1940 and Markoff in 1942 used the term myelogenous osteopathy and osteogenous myelopathy for osteoporosis, osteolysis and osteosclerosis occurring in myelogenous disorders and the suppression of haematopoiesis due to diseases of the bones, respectively. Based on thousands of evaluated iliac crest biopsies, Burkhardt has distinguished eight different pathogenetic mechanisms of myelogenous osteopathy, which may occur alone or in combination.