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Is vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency related to the development of osteochondritis dissecans?

  • Knee
  • Published:
Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Purpose

The aetiology of osteochondritis dissecans is still unclear. The aim of this prospective pilot study was to analyse whether vitamin D insufficiency, or deficiency, might be a contributing etiological factor in the development of an OCD lesion.

Methods

The serum level of vitamin D3 in 23 consecutive patients (12 male and 11 female) suffering from a stage III, or stages III and IV, OCD lesion (mostly stage III) admitted for surgery was measured.

Results

The patients’ mean age was 31.3 years and most of them already exhibited closed epiphyseal plates. In the majority of patients (18/23), a distinct vitamin D3 deficiency was found, two patients were vitamin D3-insufficient and, in three patients, the vitamin D3 level reached the lowest normal value.

Conclusion

These first data show that a vitamin D3 deficiency rather than an insufficiency may be involved in the development of OCD lesions. Probably, with a vitamin D3 substitution, the development of an advanced OCD stage could be avoided. Further analyses, including morphological analyses regarding a possible osteomalacia, and examination of the PTH and other determinants of the bone metabolism, should be undertaken to either confirm or refute these data.

Level of evidence

IV.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mrs. H. Dawson for her help in correcting the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Agaplesion Diakonieklinikum, Hohe Weide 17, 20259, Hamburg, Germany

    Juergen Bruns

  2. Department of Pathology, HELIOS Klinikum Emil von Behring, Walterhöferstr. 11, 14165, Berlin, Germany

    Mathias Werner

  3. „Activion“Medizinisches Versorgungszentrum, Alte Holstenstrasse 2, 21031, Hamburg, Germany

    Matthias Soyka

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Correspondence to Juergen Bruns.

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Bruns, J., Werner, M. & Soyka, M. Is vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency related to the development of osteochondritis dissecans?. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 24, 1575–1579 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-014-3413-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-014-3413-7

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