[Arthropathy and late changes in thalassemia major. A case report].

Patients with beta-thalassemia develop a specific osteoarthropathy as they approach the second life decade. Radiological changes included osteopenia, widened medullary spaces, thin cortices with coarse reticulations, evidence of microfractures, premature epiphysiodesis of long bones and skeletal deformations. The fact that currently patients with beta-thalassemia have a longer life expectancy may explain the recent observations in this case report of this entity, which should become more familiar to orthopaedic surgeons who treat thalassemia patients in the future.