A Case of Idiopathic Juvenile Osteoporosis

Idiopathic juvenile osteoporosis is a rare disease of heterogenous etiology and occurs on children between the age of 8 and 15. Manifestations include bone pain, fractures in minimal trauma, reduced bone density at areas of new bone growth, and loss of height. It is important to exclude other causes of osteoporosis.We experienced a case of a 14 year old boy with idiopathic juvenile osteoporosis. He had suffered from pain in the back and difficulty on walking for two months. Radiologic finding of the thoracolumbar area of the spine showed generalized severe osteoporosis and multiple vertebral collapse. We could not find the causes of osteoporosis in biochemical study, bone marrow study, skin biopsy and hormonal study. He was treated with alphacalcidol and CaCO_3. After 4 month of initial management, his subjective symtoms were improved and we did not find any signs of progression of disease. On bone mineral density measured after 26 month, we observed markedly increased bone mineral density.We report our experience of follow up of this case and review with the disease reported in the literatureope