OSTEOPOROSIS AND THE MARFAN-SYNDROME

Fourteen patients with Marfan syndrome, defined according to present c riteria, had bone mineral content of the distal forearm measured by si ngle photon absorptiometry. Patients were matched for age and sex with a large local group of healthy volunteers. While further work is need ed with other methods of densitometry with measurements at other sites , our results provide no evidence that there is an increased incidence of osteoporosis in Marfan syndrome. Previous reports of an associatio n were probably due to incorrect clinical diagnosis or confusion with clinically similar syndromes known to cause osteoporosis.