Treatment. In the absence of any knowledge as to the cause of the disease, the treatment of osteitis deformans must be largely symptomatic. Certain drugs have been recommended; among these are iodide of potash and arsenic. Most such patients are in poor general condition, and effective feeding often gives marked relief of the symptoms from which they are suffering.
For severe pain, counterirritants are valuable, especially the actual cautery. Massage is of use in some cases for improving the general condition.
Tumors of Bone. All the primary tumors of bone are of the connective tissue group, but various secondary tumors of epithelial origin may occur.
Osseous tumors may arise from the periosteum or from the marrow. If they arise from the periosteum they may extend early to the adjacent soft tissues and involve and destroy them. If the tumor arises in the marrow, it is for a long while cut off from the adjacent soft tissues by the thick cortex, and about the extending medullary tumor may also come a reactive proliferation by the periosteum, so that as the tumor extends it still may, for a long time, be surrounded by a shell of bone which prevents infection of the soft parts. After a time, however, the reactive periosteum shell usually becomes perforated at one or more points, and then the medullary tumor extends to the adjacent tissues. The cause of these tumors is absolutely unknown.
Fibromata are not very common tumors of bone. They arise generally from the periosteum and are most common about the face, and are rarely seen in the long bones. Many of these tumors are closely allied to some of the fibrous forms of sarcoma, and it is often difficult to distinguish them histologically.
Chondromata are fairly common tumors of bone. They may appear externally to the cortex, or sometimes they grow in the medullary canal. They may arise directly from the marrow, probably from remnants of the provisional cartilage cells. They also appear frequently to arise from the epiphyseal line.
Chondromata appear generally as multiple masses, nodular in shape, and are frequently seen on the lower leg, about the knee joint. They usually are painless, firm and hard, and not tender to pressure.
Treatment consists in removal by operation.
Osteomata are bony tumors which generally arise by growth of the periosteum, and form solid bony masses external to the cortex of the bone, when they are called exostoses.
The density of the bone composing the tumor varies a great deal, some being very hard and ivorylike, while others are like the cellular marrow of the long bones.