MUCOID DISSOLUTION OF BONES AND MULTIPLE PATHOLOGICAL FRACTURES IN A PATIENT WITH PAST HISTORY OF INTRAVENOUS ADMINISTRATION OF POLYVINYLPYRROLIDONE (PVP) - A CASE-REPORT

Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) has been used in industry as well as in med icine for various purposes, e.g. as a component of hair-sprays, 'retar dant' for subcutaneous injections, and given intravenously as a plasma expander. The latter usage results in deposition of PVP in the reticu lo-endothelial system and other mesenchymal cells, including osteocyte s. A middle aged woman in Taiwan, who for 10 years received repeated i ntravenous injections of PVP, suffered pathologic fractures of both fe mora and her right humerus with additional destructive lesions seen ra diologically in other bones. Biopsies of the fracture sites showed bot h intracellular PVP deposits and mucoid changes in the involved cells, a characteristic secondary complication of PVP deposition. This pheno menon, if of sufficient severity, may cause, as in this case, a virtua l 'melting down' of osseous tissue with pathological fractures as a co nsequence.