Multiple stress fractures in a young girl with chronic idiopathic arthritis. Extended case report

The occurrence of stress fractures in patients with long-standing rheumatoi d arthritis (RA) is widely known. Osteoporosis, corticosteroid therapy, joi nt stiffness, contracture, angular deformity of the joint and failed joint reconstruction - all together or separately - predispose to bone loss and s tress fractures. In the present report we describe the history of a girl wi th juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) having multiple stress fractures. Th e relationship between corticosteroid therapy and immobilisation in the tre atment of fractures is discussed. Joint Bone Spine 2001; 68:438-42. (C) 200 1 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.