ADULT HYPOPHOSPHATASIA - REPORT OF 3 CASE S

Three adult members of the same family with hypophosphatasia are descr ibed. Two of them, aged 23 and 24 yr, developed vertebral and peripher al fractures having low bone mass values and histological findings of trabecular and cortical osteoporosis with mild mineralization defects. In these two cases, the corticosteroid treatment received may have pl ay role in the development of the symptomatic clinical picture because the third affected member of the family did not have bone mass abnorm alities suffering only from early loss of teeth. Even though adult hyp ophosphatasia is a rare and oligosymptomatic disease, some risk factor s may induce the development of osteoporosis with bone fractures.