Studies on psoriatic osteopathy.

To demonstrate an as yet merely postulated generalized osteopathy in psoriatics, the serum calcium level, the alkaline phosphatase in the serum and the urinary excretion of hydroxyproline were evaluated in 24 patients with Ps and 24 patients with PA. Moreover, the bone bioptates from 25 patients with PA and 10 patients with Ps were examined histologically and measured morphometrically. The investigations provide evidence for the existence of a generalized "latent" osteopathy in terms of an elevated bone turnover rate without loss of bone volume (high turnover remodelling) in both patients with PA as well as those with Ps without arthritis. As a pathogenetically essential factor shared by dermatosis and "osteopathy", latent vitamin D deficiency and/or D hormone resistance is discussed.