Bone Abstracts

Pathologist Christian Georg Schmorl described a specific type of vertebral lesion, which is now known as Schmorl’s node. A Schmorl’s node or intradiscal herniation is herniation of nucleus pulposus through the cartilaginous and bony end plate into the body of an adjacent vertebra. Schmorl nodes are seen primarily in the thoracolumbar spines in an elderly population. Schmorl nodes are associated with moderate but not advanced degenerative changes. An 11-year-male presented with severe pain in the low back. He had neither history of injury, trauma. Neither sensory nor motor deficit of his lower extremities was apparent. He had very low serum vitamin D level. Other laboratory values were normal, including the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein, autoantibodies. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a Schmorl’s node in the superior endplate of L5 vertebra without disc degeneration, spinal deformity (Figure 1). Vitamin D plays an important role in bone health because of its effect on calcium metabolism. The vertebral bones are linked with the intervertebral discs. The Schmorl’s nodule can occur because of low strength of vertebrae bone tissue due to a vitamin D deficiency. We conclude that the lack of vitamin D is one of the risk factor on developing of Schmorl’s nodes.

Disclosure: The authors declared no competing interests.

Figure 1 A Schmorl’s node in the superior endplate of L5 vertebra.