Calcification of intervertebral discs in childhood.

Over 75 cases of intervertebral disc calcification in childhood have been reported, but the illness is seldom considered in the differential diagnosis of back pain inchildren. This paper reports two children who required surgery for intervertebral disc calcification. The histologic changes, which have not been described previously, include an amorphous calcification within the nucleus pulposus without any inflammatory reaction. The etiology of disc calcification remains unknown, but it can be differentiated both clinically and pathologically from other causes of calcified intervertebral discs and from spondylarthritis.