Clinical differential diagnosis of some systemic skeletal dysplasias

Purpose. To demonstrate the value of anthropometric characteristics in the structure of the skull and the hand bones for different systemic skeletal dysplasias, and their role in the process of differential diagnosis. Materials and Methods. The photos of 25 patients with achondroplasia studied, as well as those of 15 patients with hypoachondroplasia and 10 patients with epiphyseal dysplasia, and also the photos of 25 normal subjects who formed control group. All the persons studied were Caucasians and females. Patients of different nosological groups underwent anthropometric measurements of the head, the hands, and the data of the presence and the possible combination variants of the disease anthropometric characteristics were obtained in them. Results. The patients with hypoachondroplasia demonstrated to have no anthropometric characteristics of structure disorders of the skull and the hands, as for those with achondroplasia - structure disorders of both the skull and the hands observed in them, and the disorders of the hand bones only observed in patients with epiphyseal dysplasia. Conclusions. Differential diagnosis is relevant both during the selection of surgical treatment tactics and in terms of patient’s legal status.