Fibrous dysplasia is known as a benign bone tumor. Mostly it involves in long bones, but rare cases were reported in the spine.
The patient was a 14 years old boy. He had been suffering from low back pain during a period of 15 months. Radiography of his lumbar spine displayed the deformity of L3 body, and large lytic lesion without marginal sclerosis was found on CT scanning. Technetium scintigraphy showed high uptake of single lesion in the L3 body. The vertebral body was removed and reconstructive surgery of spinal column was performed in July 1987. Histological diagnosis was typical fibrous dysplasia. Three years and eight months after the surgery, he was asymptomatic.
Thirty seven cases of fibrous dysplasia involving the spine have been reported until now. According to the description, back pain and reffered pain are the main clinical symptoms in monostotic fibrous dysplasia, and spinal deformities and paralysis are major symptoms in the polyostotic type. Histological study is essential to get a final diagnosis. In this lesion, if the structual failure of the spinal column and paralysis occur, surgical reconstruction is needed.
