Osteophytosis of the Lumbar Spine

Description: A COMPARISON BETVWEEN THE INCIDENCE IN SASKATCHEWAN, V CANADA, AND BRISTOL, ENGLIAND BY 0O. D. BERESFORD Cancer Clinic, Regina, Saskatchewan (RECEIVED FOR PUBLICATION SEPTEMBER 9, 1952)
The condition usually referred to as osteoarthritis of the spine is extremely common and is usually diagnosed radiologically by the presence of spurs of bone arising from adjacent margins of vertebral bodies. The term osteo-arthritis is not desirable, as the joint between the vertebral bodies is a syndesmosis and the true diarthrodial joints of the spine are situated posteriorly. Recognizing this, workers have given the condition a variety of other names such as spondylitis, spondylitis deformans, spondylosis, and spondylosis deformans. Shore (1934) called it polyspondylitis marginalis osteophytica, but the simple descriptive term " osteophytosis " as used by Collins (1949) seems more satisfactory.