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NICO Historical Review

2005-03-17 01:52:51 PM
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The History of Maxillofacial Osteonecrosis (NICO)
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1800-1930
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Painful osteonecrosis/osteomyelitis, or "phossy jaw," of upper and
lower jaws sloughed out when dentist tried to
extract several teeth because of "toothache." Source: American
Journal of Dental Science, 1859.
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History of Maxillofacial Osteonecrosis (NICO)
First described in 1794 in a case of septic necrosis of the femoral head,
this enigmatic disease is as old as the dinosaurs but has been poorly
understood and has such subtle radiographic changes that until recently it
was seldom diagnosed prior to end-stage damage.[11-13] Contemporary
research has so enhanced our understanding of its basic pathophysiology that
it now bears little resemblance to the entity once known as "aseptic
osteomyelitis."
Heightened awareness and improved imaging techniques have confirmed this
once rare disorder to be one of the most common of bone disorders. In
certain diseases, such as lupus erythematosus, almost a third of patients
may be affected.[9] IO is able to affect any bone of the human skeleton and
is represented by a large number of orthopedic diseases now seen as simple
anatomic- and age-related variations of intramedullary ischemia and
infarction.[1-5,9,14,15]
The old, overly-simplified histopathologic definition of IO as massive loss
of osteocytes without pus is now substantially expanded to include specific
and often subtle signs of ischemic marrow damage which may not even include
obviously dead tissues.[2-9,14-16] Histopathologically less severe or
nascent involvement has begun to be consolidated under a common diagnostic
term, bone marrow edema (Table 1), and the disease is now known primarily as
a vascular disorder readily influenced by a variety of risk factors or
trigger events ("hits") which promote thrombosis.[7,9,17-21] Persons with
multifocal IO are more likely to suffer from systemic risk factors than
those with single site involvement and the great majority of patients have
inherited or acquired a systemic tendency toward fibrin generation (Table 2)
which predisposes them to microinfarction and ischemic marrow
damage.[8,9,15-22]
Usually associated with pain, IO can nevertheless show a surprising capacity
to remain painless until great destruction has occurred, even to the point
of joint collapse for hip lesions -- there is little correlation between the
degree of bone involvement and the intensity of associated pain.[5,9] The
pain can take on a neuralgic character but its etiology is primarily a
function of intraosseous fluid dynamics and inflammatory mediators rather
than damaged nerves, as discussed later.[4,5,9,11,14-16]
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The Pre-Antibiotic Era: 1850-1930.
IO of the maxillofacial region is not new to dentistry. During the
pre-antibiotic era "phossy jaw" and other forms of "chemical osteomyelitis"
resulted from environmental pollutants, such as lead and the phosphorus used
in safety matches, as well as from popular medications containing mercury,
arsenic or bismuth.[23-29] This disease was well established by 1867, did
not often occur in individuals with good gingival health, and appeared to
"attack" the mandible first.[25] It was associated with localized or
generalized deep ache or pain, often of multiple jawbone sites. The teeth
often appeared sound and suppuration was not present. Even so, the dentist
often began extracting one tooth after another in the region of pain, often
with temporary relief but usually to no real effect.[24] Occasionally,
large fragments of necrotic bone would come out with the tooth, sometimes
involving much of an entire quadrant, as depicted in the figure at the top
of this page. Apparently, Lorinser of Vienna in 1845 was the first to call
attention to the problem.[25]
Less severe cases of maxillofacial osteonecrosis were discussed in the
classic 1898 oral pathology text by Barrett,[28] wherein he described
"caries" and "necrosis" of bone with cellular "devitalization" and
"inhibition of nutrient currents," characterized by a slowly progressive
"breaking down" of the "territory" of marrow tissues receiving those
nutrients and resulting in little or no production of granulation tissue. He
had no suggested etiology for his cases. Thirty years earlier and more than
a century ahead of his time, Noel[27] separated bone caries into two
distinct categories: "bone death" and the less intense "reduced vitality."
Even earlier, the 1848 text by Thomas Bond[23], which appears to be the
first true oral pathology text, was the first book to discuss bone necrosis
as such, emphasizing that this disease did not require abscessed teeth or
gums, could result in the complete death of bone. Bond mentioned that
"necrosis may be caused by any means which destroys the nutrition of the
bone or any part of it"-- usually from "constitutional vitiations, or
defects of nutrition consequent upon general pravity." His recommended
treatment: "when necrosis has taken place, the bone must be removed."
G. V. Black,[29] the father of modern dentistry, described in 1915 an
osteomyelitis look-alike disease which he called "chronic osteitis." He
described slow bone death "cell by cell" with the creation of alveolar
intramedullary "cavities" up to 5 cm. in size and wondered about its unique
ability to produce extensive bone destruction without pus, without redness
and swelling of the overlying tissues, without an increase in the patient's
body temperature, and often without pain. His suggestion to curette diseased
bone reiterated the treatment proposed by Ferguson[24] in 1868 and by
Bond[23] in 1848. Around the same time period osteonecrosis of the hip in
children was being recognized by the author's whose names would eventually
be affixed to that disease, i.e. the Legg-Calv?Perthes disease.[31-33]
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The Forgotten Decades: 1930-1970.
For most of the twentieth century this disease was largely forgotten by the
dental profession, although a few investigators made significant
contributions to the advancement of our understanding. Wilensky[24] and
Hankey[25] suggested that persistent regional necrosis in osteomyelitis of
the jaws was secondary to vascular insufficiency, while Brosch[26] described
the potential for hollow medullary spaces to enlarge and coalesce one with
another. Thoma[37,38] was likely the first to specifically correlate this
"residual infection" or "osteitis" with old extraction sites, many of which
demonstrated focal "necrotic exudates," fibrosis and "osteoclastic
resorption" of surrounding bone. His observations were affirmed in 1955 by
Box,[34] who reported a very large series of limited intraosseous
cavitations or "vacuolations" in old extraction sites with no production of
pus or bony sequestra. Box was especially intrigued by the radiographic
subtlety of the disease, by its multifocal nature, its localized tenderness
without inflammatory signs, and the neuralgia-like nature of accompanying
pain.
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The Over-Emphasis of Pain: 1970-1990.
The 1970s and 1980s saw a strong emphasis placed on the neuralgia-like pains
often accompanying osteonecrosis of the maxillofacial region, an influence
embodied in the currently popular diagnostic name NICO (neuralgia-inducing
cavitational osteonecrosis).[40-48] Significant or complete pain reduction
was achieved in chronic "idiopathic" facial pain by the simple expedient of
decortication and curettage of damaged alveolar bone (Table 3), supporting
the contention by neural researchers that persistent odontogenic and osseous
disease can be important contributing factors for such neuralgias.44-49 None
of these investigations included a control group, nor has any facial
neuralgia follow-up study. Ethical considerations and the ever-present
potential for silent or subclinical disease will likely prevent valid
control groups from being identified, but a 1995 NICO follow-up
investigation confirming earlier surgical successes went so far as to
guarantee patient anonymity, to use a well-established pain evaluation
instrument instead of surgeon records to determine outcomes, and to use a
third party to collect and analyze data in order to reduce potential
biases.[50]
Unfortunately, the major emphasis on the association with neuralgic pain
initiated significant controversy among professionals treating "idiopathic"
facial pain and kept involved researchers from focusing on other features of
the disease process, such as more appropriate diagnoses and diagnostic
techniques, and better understanding of the pathophysiology and
pathoetiology of the disease. Early lesions were diagnosed by a number of
independent pathologists as chronic osteomyelitis, and microorganisms
cultured from many NICO lesions, combined with occasional facial pain relief
with antibiotic therapy, assured that these cases would be diagnosed and
treated as chronic osteomyelitis. And yet, a significant number of patients
did not respond in a fashion appropriate to that diagnosis. This led some
investigators to seek alternative interpretations for the biological
behavior and histopathology. A critical shift in perspective (return to the
original concepts?) occurred in 1989 when this odd alveolar disease began to
be viewed primarily as a problem of compromised medullary blood flow driven
by progressive thrombosis, rather than as a unique infection unknown to
other bones.[56,57]
This new perspective as a maxillofacial manifestation of IO provided, for
the first time, a logical explanation for the curiously multifocal nature of
the disease; its frequent intermingling of ischemically damaged and normal
marrow (also influenced by the perfusion irregularities of fatty
marrow[58]), its frequent lack of inflammatory cells, its remarkably chronic
and recurring character, its deep bone pain and varied pain syndromes, its
relatively high failure rate with local interventions, and its primary
localization at the ends of the arterial inflow (retromolar and subcrestal
alveolar regions) where weak, irregular blood flow favors the formation of
intravascular thrombi.[5,7,9,14,15,59]
This is not to say that intraosseous microorganisms do not represent a
significant risk factor or triggering mechanism for thrombosis in these
stagnant zones of cancellous bone. Affected bone is ideal fodder for
periodontal and periapical bacteria chronically stimulating inflammatory and
immune responses.[60-62] Impaired medullary circulation prevents proper
healing in these instances and the chronic infection, in turn, enhances
local and systemic clotting. This further exacerbates the medullary ischemia
and initiates a slow, ever-increasing spiral of thrombosis and
microinfarction with progressively elevating intramedullary pressures,
additional thrombosis, and frequent propagation of spontaneous pain.
Prothrombotic factors, especially fibrinogen, also allow increased adherence
of bacteria to thrombin-activated endothelial cells.[63]
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Decade of Major Advances: 1990-2000.
Once it became clear that this disease of the jaws resembled avascular
necrosis of other bones, investigators used newly available laboratory
tests, including allele-specific polymerase chain reaction, to identify in
NICO patients heritable disorders predisposing to adverse thrombotic events.
At least 72% proved to be afflicted with a variety of such disorders, as
compared to 70-87% for patients with IO of the hip and knee.[9,19-21,64-67
This was seen as a major breakthrough, eventuating in the use of
anticoagulants (without surgery or antibiotics) in persons with NICO and hip
osteonecrosis.[68-71] Although not all affected individuals benefited, the
significant pain relief experienced by a large proportion of treated
patients confirms an association in those persons between the symptoms of IO
and the hypercoagulable disorders.[69,71]
Viewing NICO as the oral manifestation of a systemic disease also allowed
application of the clinicopathologic qualities of long bone disease to
maxillofacial cases, especially the use of diagnostic imaging techniques
such as 99technetium-MDP (99mTc-MDP) scintigraphy and Single Proton Emission
Computed Tomography (SPECT) scans, instead of the indium and gallium scans
typically used for bone infections.[64,72-74] The small number of chronic
inflammatory cells found in NICO lesions makes radioisotopes which attach to
leukocytes much less useful than those which attach to new or exposed bone
matrix. There is usually a small amount of ongoing healing in IO lesions and
so they present as "hot spots" of increased radioisotope uptake, with "cold
spots" of extremely reduced uptake in the occasional severely desiccated
lesion. Newly developed 99mTc isotopes directed at fibrin "-chain peptide
may prove useful for patients actively forming microclots.[75]
A substantial proportion (25-35%) of scans will be falsely negative because
the disease has long periods during which no bone is destroyed or
regenerated, even as symptoms and marrow damage progress. This holds true
regardless of the affected bone, but maxillofacial involvement suffers from
an unexpected false-negative phenomenon: radiologists not attuned to jawbone
ischemia often interpret a hot spot of alveolar bone as "normal," presuming
it to relate to ubiquitous dental and periodontal disease. We recommend,
therefore, that the surgeon review all films interpreted as negative.
Thin-sliced spiral CT scans and ultrasonic scans have also proven effective
in localizing NICO, although they require very careful evaluation.[76] MRI
scans are valuable for the rounded ends of bones but in our experience are
of little benefit in alveolar cases.[77,78]
In a similar fashion the more contemporary histopathologic features of
ischemic osteonecrosis and bone marrow edema (its less severe counterpart)
often overlooked by or unfamiliar to oral pathologists, could be applied to
maxillofacial examples with the notable caveat that there are no features of
cortical collapse in jaw lesions and odontogenic infections are often
superimposed.[1-9,57] Additionally, microscopic evaluation of maxillofacial
biopsy samples is made much more difficult by the small number and size of
available curettage fragments, especially when an intramedullary cavitation
exists, in contradistinction to the large specimens available for study
after resection and core biopsies of long bone cases. Recent analyses have,
significantly, reported that almost 3/4 of jawbone biopsy samples of
ischemic osteonecrosis and NICO can be classified as the histologically more
subtle variants called bone marrow edema or regional ischemic
osteoporosis.[81,82] This has helped to explain why some oral pathologists,
certainly not the majority, have difficulty distinguishing the classic
features from "normal" bone and bone marrow.
The first microscopic review of a large series of biopsied cases of NICO was
reported during the 1990s, as was the first necropsy example.[57,82] These
papers strongly emphasized the multifocal nature of the disease, while
others reinforced the strong association between chronic facial pain and
inflammatory or ischemic marrow disease.[55,83] In this light, one of the
most important advances was the refinement of the old
anesthesia/hyperesthesia and microanesthesia diagnostic tests to more
successfully localize areas of medullary disease in facial pain
patients.[84-86]
During the 1990s sophisticated assays were also applied, for the first time,
to maxillofacial osteonecrosis. Haley and Pendergras[87] used a
well-established neurotoxicity assay on a very large number of tissue
samples, finding almost all to be extremely toxic -- often more toxic than
hydrogen sulfide, the chemical normally used to establish maximum level of
neurotoxicity. The exact nature of the toxin is not yet known, but the
discovery of the neurotoxicity led some to question whether or not this
process damaged the peripheral nerve myelin of the alveolar nerves. This
idea was further stimulated by the finding in a small number of NICO biopsy
samples of an unusual form of nonwallerian degeneration in the majority of
visible nerves.[55] To this end the blood of another small sample of NICO
patients was evaluated by a newly-established assay which, for the first
time, allowed the determination of circulating antibodies against peripheral
nerve myelin.[88] The sera of healthy humans normally show none of these
antibodies, as was true for a few of the NICO patients, but other NICO
patients had antibody levels as high as or higher than those found in the
classic demyelination disease, the Guillain-Barr?syndrome.[89,90] This
suggests chronic exposure of the peripheral myelin to the immune system,
either as a primary attack (autoimmune) or secondary to myelin exposed or
partially destroyed by a local inflammatory/ischemic phenomenon.
While some patients had no such antibodies, others demonstrated Elevated
levels of circulating anti-peripheral nerve myelin (anti-PNM) antibodies
have been found in NICO patients, suggesting .120-122 Chronic nerve damage
is likely enhanced by the very high levels of neurotoxicity found by
bioassay in virtually all tissue samples of maxillofacial osteonecrosis,
although the responsible neurotoxins have not yet been identified.123
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Virginia; April, 2000.
82. Adams WR, Spolnick KJ, Bouquot JE. Maxillofacial osteonecrosis in a
patient with multiple facial pains. J Oral Pathol Med 1999; 28:423-432.
83. McMahon RE, Griep J, Marfurt CP, et al. Local anesthetic effects in
the presence of chronic osteomyelitis/necrosis of the mandible: implications
for localizing the etiologic sites of referred trigeminal pain. J Craniomand
Pract 1995; 13:212-226.
84. Brown RS, Hinderstein B, Reynolds DC, et al. Using anesthetic
localization to diagnose oral and dental pain. J Amer Dent Assoc 1995; 126:
633-641.
85. McMahon RE, Adams W, Spolnik K. Diagnostic anesthesia for referred
trigeminal pain, Part I. Compendium Cont Educ Dent 1992; 11:870-881.
86.McMahon RE, Adams W, Spolnik K. Diagnostic anesthesia for referred
trigeminal pain, Part II. Compendium Cont Educ Dent 1992; 11:980-997.
87. Haley BE, Pendergrass JC. www.altcorp.com. [Affinity Labeling
Technologies; University of Kentucky]
88. Koski CL. Humoral mechanisms in immune neuropathies. Neurol Clin 1992,
10:629.
89. McMahon R, Bouquot J, Mahan P, Gremillion H. Elevated serum peripheral
nerve anti-myelin antibody titers in atypical facial pain patients with
NICO. J Orofacial Pain 1994; 8:104.
90. McMahon R, Bouquot J, Mahan P, Saxen M. Elevated anti-myelin
antibodies in patients with maxillofacial osteonecrosis (NICO). J Oral
Pathol Med 1998; 27:345-346.
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Table 1: Alternative diagnostic names used for bone marrow
edema and ischemic osteonecrosis.1-9,14-16
Bone Marrow Edema
Ischemic Osteonecrosis
Arlet Type I osteonecrosis
Bone compartment disease
Bone marrow edema syndrome
Chronic traumatic edema
Medullary engorgement-pain syndrome
Migratory osteolysis
Migratory osteoporosis
NICO *
Post-traumatic painful osteoporosis
Post-traumatic reflex dystrophy
Primary algodystrophy
Regional ischemic osteoporosis
Regional osteoporosis
Roentgenologic transient osteoporosis
Sudeck's disease (RSD) **
Transient bone marrow edema syndrome
Transient demineralization
Transient ischemic osteoporosis
Transient marrow edema
Transient osteoporosis
Transitory demineralization in pregnancy
Aseptic necrosis
Aseptic osteomyelitis
Aseptic osteonecrosis
Avascular necrosis
Bone infarction
Coronary disease of bone
Ischemic necrosis
NICO *
Osteochondrosis desiccans
Perthe's disease
* NICO: neuralgia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis
** RSD: reflex sympathetic dystrophy
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Table 2: Coagulation disorders found in patients with ischemic osteonecrosis
of the hips, knees and jaws. These are compared to the proportions found in
patients with deep vein thrombosis of soft tissues and with the normal
population. Resulting proportions do not total 100% because some patients
had multiple disorders. Modified from Bouquot JE, LaMarche MG. J Pros Dent
1999; 81:148-158.
Normal Population
Deep Vein Thrombosis
Osteonecrosis
Thrombophilia
Hereditary types*
2-5%
5-9%
50-70%
Acquired types
3-7%
20-50%
33%
Hypofibrinolysis:
Hereditary types *
<1%
5-15%
18-22%
Acquired types
<1%
20-25%
50%
Total (includes multiple coagulopathies):
5-9%
20-50%
65-87%
* usually autosomal dominant
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Table 2: Results of surgical curettage of jawbone NICO (Neuralgia-Induced
Cavitational Osteonecrosis) lesions, an average of 4.5 years after last
surgery, in 103 patients with "idiopathic" chronic facial pain for an
average of 6 years (range: 2-18 years) prior to NICO surgery.
Reference: Bouquot JE, Christian J. Long-term effects of jawbone curettage
on the pain of facial neuralgia. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 1995; 53:387-397.
Follow-up Rating Reduction % Pain Present Status of Pain % of Total
Cases
0 0-10 % No improvement 8.8% *
1 11-33 Minimal improvement 2.9
2 34-75 Moderate improvement 15.5
3 76-99 Considerable improvement ** 13.6
4 100 No pain 59.2
Total:
100.0 %
-
 

Re:NICO Historical Review

Jan - do tell us that you understood all these papers? Some of the words are
longer than 'Marmalade, Can you understand trans-marmaladic words?
--
John Chewter
www.keyneimage.co.uk
"LadyLollipop" <LadyLollipop@insightbb.com>wrote in message
Quote
maxillofacialcenter.com/NICOhistory.html

The History of Maxillofacial Osteonecrosis (NICO)

ŠThe Maxillofacial Center for Diagnostics & Research

Other Links

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Topics
Historical Overview
1800-1930
1930-1970
1970-1990
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References
Tables
Painful osteonecrosis/osteomyelitis, or "phossy jaw," of upper and
lower jaws sloughed out when dentist tried to
extract several teeth because of "toothache." Source: American
Journal of Dental Science, 1859.


The Maxillofacial Center, 165 Scott Avenue, Suite 100, Morgantown, WV
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History of Maxillofacial Osteonecrosis (NICO)

First described in 1794 in a case of septic necrosis of the femoral head,
this enigmatic disease is as old as the dinosaurs but has been poorly
understood and has such subtle radiographic changes that until recently it
was seldom diagnosed prior to end-stage damage.[11-13] Contemporary
research has so enhanced our understanding of its basic pathophysiology
that it now bears little resemblance to the entity once known as "aseptic
osteomyelitis."

Heightened awareness and improved imaging techniques have confirmed this
once rare disorder to be one of the most common of bone disorders. In
certain diseases, such as lupus erythematosus, almost a third of patients
may be affected.[9] IO is able to affect any bone of the human skeleton
and is represented by a large number of orthopedic diseases now seen as
simple anatomic- and age-related variations of intramedullary ischemia and
infarction.[1-5,9,14,15]

The old, overly-simplified histopathologic definition of IO as massive
loss of osteocytes without pus is now substantially expanded to include
specific and often subtle signs of ischemic marrow damage which may not
even include obviously dead tissues.[2-9,14-16] Histopathologically less
severe or nascent involvement has begun to be consolidated under a common
diagnostic term, bone marrow edema (Table 1), and the disease is now known
primarily as a vascular disorder readily influenced by a variety of risk
factors or trigger events ("hits") which promote thrombosis.[7,9,17-21]
Persons with multifocal IO are more likely to suffer from systemic risk
factors than those with single site involvement and the great majority of
patients have inherited or acquired a systemic tendency toward fibrin
generation (Table 2) which predisposes them to microinfarction and
ischemic marrow damage.[8,9,15-22]

Usually associated with pain, IO can nevertheless show a surprising
capacity to remain painless until great destruction has occurred, even to
the point of joint collapse for hip lesions -- there is little correlation
between the degree of bone involvement and the intensity of associated
pain.[5,9] The pain can take on a neuralgic character but its etiology is
primarily a function of intraosseous fluid dynamics and inflammatory
mediators rather than damaged nerves, as discussed later.[4,5,9,11,14-16]

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The Pre-Antibiotic Era: 1850-1930.

IO of the maxillofacial region is not new to dentistry. During the
pre-antibiotic era "phossy jaw" and other forms of "chemical
osteomyelitis" resulted from environmental pollutants, such as lead and
the phosphorus used in safety matches, as well as from popular medications
containing mercury, arsenic or bismuth.[23-29] This disease was well
established by 1867, did not often occur in individuals with good gingival
health, and appeared to "attack" the mandible first.[25] It was
associated with localized or generalized deep ache or pain, often of
multiple jawbone sites. The teeth often appeared sound and suppuration
was not present. Even so, the dentist often began extracting one tooth
after another in the region of pain, often with temporary relief but
usually to no real effect.[24] Occasionally, large fragments of necrotic
bone would come out with the tooth, sometimes involving much of an entire
quadrant, as depicted in the figure at the top of this page. Apparently,
Lorinser of Vienna in 1845 was the first to call attention to the
problem.[25]

Less severe cases of maxillofacial osteonecrosis were discussed in the
classic 1898 oral pathology text by Barrett,[28] wherein he described
"caries" and "necrosis" of bone with cellular "devitalization" and
"inhibition of nutrient currents," characterized by a slowly progressive
"breaking down" of the "territory" of marrow tissues receiving those
nutrients and resulting in little or no production of granulation tissue.
He had no suggested etiology for his cases. Thirty years earlier and more
than a century ahead of his time, Noel[27] separated bone caries into two
distinct categories: "bone death" and the less intense "reduced vitality."
Even earlier, the 1848 text by Thomas Bond[23], which appears to be the
first true oral pathology text, was the first book to discuss bone
necrosis as such, emphasizing that this disease did not require abscessed
teeth or gums, could result in the complete death of bone. Bond mentioned
that "necrosis may be caused by any means which destroys the nutrition of
the bone or any part of it"-- usually from "constitutional vitiations, or
defects of nutrition consequent upon general pravity." His recommended
treatment: "when necrosis has taken place, the bone must be removed."

G. V. Black,[29] the father of modern dentistry, described in 1915 an
osteomyelitis look-alike disease which he called "chronic osteitis." He
described slow bone death "cell by cell" with the creation of alveolar
intramedullary "cavities" up to 5 cm. in size and wondered about its
unique ability to produce extensive bone destruction without pus, without
redness and swelling of the overlying tissues, without an increase in the
patient's body temperature, and often without pain. His suggestion to
curette diseased bone reiterated the treatment proposed by Ferguson[24] in
1868 and by Bond[23] in 1848. Around the same time period osteonecrosis
of the hip in children was being recognized by the author's whose names
would eventually be affixed to that disease, i.e. the Legg-Calv?Perthes
disease.[31-33]

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The Forgotten Decades: 1930-1970.

For most of the twentieth century this disease was largely forgotten by
the dental profession, although a few investigators made significant
contributions to the advancement of our understanding. Wilensky[24] and
Hankey[25] suggested that persistent regional necrosis in osteomyelitis of
the jaws was secondary to vascular insufficiency, while Brosch[26]
described the potential for hollow medullary spaces to enlarge and
coalesce one with another. Thoma[37,38] was likely the first to
specifically correlate this "residual infection" or "osteitis" with old
extraction sites, many of which demonstrated focal "necrotic exudates,"
fibrosis and "osteoclastic resorption" of surrounding bone. His
observations were affirmed in 1955 by Box,[34] who reported a very large
series of limited intraosseous cavitations or "vacuolations" in old
extraction sites with no production of pus or bony sequestra. Box was
especially intrigued by the radiographic subtlety of the disease, by its
multifocal nature, its localized tenderness without inflammatory signs,
and the neuralgia-like nature of accompanying pain.

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The Over-Emphasis of Pain: 1970-1990.

The 1970s and 1980s saw a strong emphasis placed on the neuralgia-like
pains often accompanying osteonecrosis of the maxillofacial region, an
influence embodied in the currently popular diagnostic name NICO
(neuralgia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis).[40-48] Significant or
complete pain reduction was achieved in chronic "idiopathic" facial pain
by the simple expedient of decortication and curettage of damaged alveolar
bone (Table 3), supporting the contention by neural researchers that
persistent odontogenic and osseous disease can be important contributing
factors for such neuralgias.44-49 None of these investigations included a
control group, nor has any facial neuralgia follow-up study. Ethical
considerations and the ever-present potential for silent or subclinical
disease will likely prevent valid control groups from being identified,
but a 1995 NICO follow-up investigation confirming earlier surgical
successes went so far as to guarantee patient anonymity, to use a
well-established pain evaluation instrument instead of surgeon records to
determine outcomes, and to use a third party to collect and analyze data
in order to reduce potential biases.[50]

Unfortunately, the major emphasis on the association with neuralgic pain
initiated significant controversy among professionals treating
"idiopathic" facial pain and kept involved researchers from focusing on
other features of the disease process, such as more appropriate diagnoses
and diagnostic techniques, and better understanding of the pathophysiology
and pathoetiology of the disease. Early lesions were diagnosed by a
number of independent pathologists as chronic osteomyelitis, and
microorganisms cultured from many NICO lesions, combined with occasional
facial pain relief with antibiotic therapy, assured that these cases would
be diagnosed and treated as chronic osteomyelitis. And yet, a significant
number of patients did not respond in a fashion appropriate to that
diagnosis. This led some investigators to seek alternative
interpretations for the biological behavior and histopathology. A critical
shift in perspective (return to the original concepts?) occurred in 1989
when this odd alveolar disease began to be viewed primarily as a problem
of compromised medullary blood flow driven by progressive thrombosis,
rather than as a unique infection unknown to other bones.[56,57]

This new perspective as a maxillofacial manifestation of IO provided, for
the first time, a logical explanation for the curiously multifocal nature
of the disease; its frequent intermingling of ischemically damaged and
normal marrow (also influenced by the perfusion irregularities of fatty
marrow[58]), its frequent lack of inflammatory cells, its remarkably
chronic and recurring character, its deep bone pain and varied pain
syndromes, its relatively high failure rate with local interventions, and
its primary localization at the ends of the arterial inflow (retromolar
and subcrestal alveolar regions) where weak, irregular blood flow favors
the formation of intravascular thrombi.[5,7,9,14,15,59]

This is not to say that intraosseous microorganisms do not represent a
significant risk factor or triggering mechanism for thrombosis in these
stagnant zones of cancellous bone. Affected bone is ideal fodder for
periodontal and periapical bacteria chronically stimulating inflammatory
and immune responses.[60-62] Impaired medullary circulation prevents
proper healing in these instances and the chronic infection, in turn,
enhances local and systemic clotting. This further exacerbates the
medullary ischemia and initiates a slow, ever-increasing spiral of
thrombosis and microinfarction with progressively elevating intramedullary
pressures, additional thrombosis, and frequent propagation of spontaneous
pain. Prothrombotic factors, especially fibrinogen, also allow increased
adherence of bacteria to thrombin-activated endothelial cells.[63]

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Decade of Major Advances: 1990-2000.

Once it became clear that this disease of the jaws resembled avascular
necrosis of other bones, investigators used newly available laboratory
tests, including allele-specific polymerase chain reaction, to identify in
NICO patients heritable disorders predisposing to adverse thrombotic
events. At least 72% proved to be afflicted with a variety of such
disorders, as compared to 70-87% for patients with IO of the hip and
knee.[9,19-21,64-67 This was seen as a major breakthrough, eventuating in
the use of anticoagulants (without surgery or antibiotics) in persons with
NICO and hip osteonecrosis.[68-71] Although not all affected individuals
benefited, the significant pain relief experienced by a large proportion
of treated patients confirms an association in those persons between the
symptoms of IO and the hypercoagulable disorders.[69,71]

Viewing NICO as the oral manifestation of a systemic disease also allowed
application of the clinicopathologic qualities of long bone disease to
maxillofacial cases, especially the use of diagnostic imaging techniques
such as 99technetium-MDP (99mTc-MDP) scintigraphy and Single Proton
Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) scans, instead of the indium and
gallium scans typically used for bone infections.[64,72-74] The small
number of chronic inflammatory cells found in NICO lesions makes
radioisotopes which attach to leukocytes much less useful than those which
attach to new or exposed bone matrix. There is usually a small amount of
ongoing healing in IO lesions and so they present as "hot spots" of
increased radioisotope uptake, with "cold spots" of extremely reduced
uptake in the occasional severely desiccated lesion. Newly developed 99mTc
isotopes directed at fibrin "-chain peptide may prove useful for patients
actively forming microclots.[75]

A substantial proportion (25-35%) of scans will be falsely negative
because the disease has long periods during which no bone is destroyed or
regenerated, even as symptoms and marrow damage progress. This holds true
regardless of the affected bone, but maxillofacial involvement suffers
from an unexpected false-negative phenomenon: radiologists not attuned to
jawbone ischemia often interpret a hot spot of alveolar bone as "normal,"
presuming it to relate to ubiquitous dental and periodontal disease. We
recommend, therefore, that the surgeon review all films interpreted as
negative. Thin-sliced spiral CT scans and ultrasonic scans have also
proven effective in localizing NICO, although they require very careful
evaluation.[76] MRI scans are valuable for the rounded ends of bones but
in our experience are of little benefit in alveolar cases.[77,78]

In a similar fashion the more contemporary histopathologic features of
ischemic osteonecrosis and bone marrow edema (its less severe counterpart)
often overlooked by or unfamiliar to oral pathologists, could be applied
to maxillofacial examples with the notable caveat that there are no
features of cortical collapse in jaw lesions and odontogenic infections
are often superimposed.[1-9,57] Additionally, microscopic evaluation of
maxillofacial biopsy samples is made much more difficult by the small
number and size of available curettage fragments, especially when an
intramedullary cavitation exists, in contradistinction to the large
specimens available for study after resection and core biopsies of long
bone cases. Recent analyses have, significantly, reported that almost 3/4
of jawbone biopsy samples of ischemic osteonecrosis and NICO can be
classified as the histologically more subtle variants called bone marrow
edema or regional ischemic osteoporosis.[81,82] This has helped to
explain why some oral pathologists, certainly not the majority, have
difficulty distinguishing the classic features from "normal" bone and bone
marrow.

The first microscopic review of a large series of biopsied cases of NICO
was reported during the 1990s, as was the first necropsy example.[57,82]
These papers strongly emphasized the multifocal nature of the disease,
while others reinforced the strong association between chronic facial pain
and inflammatory or ischemic marrow disease.[55,83] In this light, one of
the most important advances was the refinement of the old
anesthesia/hyperesthesia and microanesthesia diagnostic tests to more
successfully localize areas of medullary disease in facial pain
patients.[84-86]

During the 1990s sophisticated assays were also applied, for the first
time, to maxillofacial osteonecrosis. Haley and Pendergras[87] used a
well-established neurotoxicity assay on a very large number of tissue
samples, finding almost all to be extremely toxic -- often more toxic than
hydrogen sulfide, the chemical normally used to establish maximum level of
neurotoxicity. The exact nature of the toxin is not yet known, but the
discovery of the neurotoxicity led some to question whether or not this
process damaged the peripheral nerve myelin of the alveolar nerves. This
idea was further stimulated by the finding in a small number of NICO
biopsy samples of an unusual form of nonwallerian degeneration in the
majority of visible nerves.[55] To this end the blood of another small
sample of NICO patients was evaluated by a newly-established assay which,
for the first time, allowed the determination of circulating antibodies
against peripheral nerve myelin.[88] The sera of healthy humans normally
show none of these antibodies, as was true for a few of the NICO patients,
but other NICO patients had antibody levels as high as or higher than
those found in the classic demyelination disease, the Guillain-Barr?
syndrome.[89,90] This suggests chronic exposure of the peripheral myelin
to the immune system, either as a primary attack (autoimmune) or secondary
to myelin exposed or partially destroyed by a local inflammatory/ischemic
phenomenon.

While some patients had no such antibodies, others demonstrated Elevated
levels of circulating anti-peripheral nerve myelin (anti-PNM) antibodies
have been found in NICO patients, suggesting .120-122 Chronic nerve damage
is likely enhanced by the very high levels of neurotoxicity found by
bioassay in virtually all tissue samples of maxillofacial osteonecrosis,
although the responsible neurotoxins have not yet been identified.123

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Bouquot J, McMahon R. Ischemic osteonecrosis of the jaws in 2,023
patients with facial pain. J Oral Pathol Med 1996; 25:271.

Bouquot JE, McMahon RE. Ischemic alveolar osteonecrosis in 2,023 patients
with chronic facial pain. J Orofacial Pain 1997; 11:180.

Odell EW, Morgan PR. Biopsy pathology of the oral tissues. London:
Chapman & Hall, 1998: 268-270.

58. Kiaer T. Bone perfusion and oxygenation. Animal experiments and
clinical observations. Acta Orthop Scand 1994; 65 (Suppl 257):1.

59. Hiroshi I, Matsuno T, Kaneda K. Prognosis of early stage avascular
necrosis of the femoral head. Clin Orthop 1999; 358:149.

60. Lerner UH. Regulation of bone metabolism by the kallikrein-kinin
system, the coagulation cascade, and the acute-phase reactants. Oral Surg
Oral Med Oral Pathol 1994; 78:481.

61. Stashenko P, Want C-Y, Tani-Ishii N, Yu SM. Pathogenesis of induced
rat periapical lesions. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol 1994; 78:494.

62. Torabinejad M. Mediators of acute and chronic periradicular lesions.
Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol 1994; 78:511.

63. Shenkman B, Runinstein E, Tamarin I, et al. Staphylococcus aureus
adherence to thrombin-treated endothelial cells is mediated by fibrinogen
but not by platelets. J Lab Clin Med 2000; 135:43.

64. Neville B, Damm D, Allen C, Bouquot JE. Oral & maxillofacial
pathology. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1995, p 631.

65. Glueck CJ, McMahon RE, Bouquot JE, et al. Thrombophilia,
hypofibrinolysis and osteonecrosis of the jaws. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral
Pathol 1996; 81:557.

66. Gruppo R, Glueck CJ, McMahon RE, et al. The pathophysiology of
osteonecrosis of the jaw: anticardiolipin antibodies, thrombophilia, and
hypofibrinolysis. J Lab Clin Med 1996; 127: 481.

67. Glueck CJ, McMahon RE, Bouquot JE, Tripplet D, et al. Heterozygosity
for the Leiden mutation V gene, a common pathoetiology for osteonecrosis
of the jaw with thrombophilia augmented by exogenous estrogens. J Lab Clin
Med 1997; 130:540.

68. Glueck CJ, Freiberg R, Glueck HI, et al. Idiopathic osteonecrosis,
hypofibrinolysis, high plasminogen activator inhibitor, high lipoprotein
(a), and therapy with stanozolol. Am J Hematol 1995; 48:213.

69. Glueck CJ, McMahon RE, Bouquot JE, Tracy T, et al.. Preliminary pilot
study of the treatment of thrombophilia and hypofibrinolysis and the
amelioration of the pain of osteonecrosis of the jaws. Oral Surg Oral Med
Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 1998; 85:64.

70. Hammerschmidt DE. Thrombophilic osteonecrosis: another chapter. J Lab
Clin Med 1997; 130:451.

71. Glueck CJ. NICO and anticoagulation therapy. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral
Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 1998; 86:5.

72. Langlais RP, Langland OE, Nortje CJ. Diagnostic imaging of the jaws.
Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1994:393.

73. Boudreau RJ, Griffiths HJ. Bone infarcts and osteonecrosis. In:
Collier BD Jr, Fogelman I, Rosenthal L. Skeletal nuclear medicine. St.
Louis: Mosby, 1996;293.

74. Bouquot JE, LaMarche MG. Ischemic osteonecrosis under fixed partial
denture pontics: radiographic and microscopic features in 38 patients with
chronic pain. J Pros Dent 1999; 81:148.

75. Thakur ML, Pallela VR, Consigny PM, et al. Imaging vascular
thrombosis with 99mTc-labeled fibrin "-chain peptide. J Nucl Med 2000;
41:161.

76. Nicol K, Klingman J, Holt J, et al. Ultrasonic gum/jaw bone detection
instrument. Thesis. Socorro, New Mexico, New Mexico Institute of Mining &
Technology, 1996.

77. Larheim TA, Westesson P-L, Hicks D, Eriksson L, et al. Osteonecrosis
of the temporomandibular joint: correlation of magnetic resonance imaging
and histology. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 1999; 57:888.

78. Sano T, Westesson P-L, Larheim TA, Rubin SJ, et al. Osteoarthritis
and abnormal bone marrow of the mandibular condyle. Oral Surg Oral Med
Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 1999; 87:243.

80. Bouquot J, McMahon R. Bone marrow edema syndrome: new disease or
early presentation of ischemic osteonecrosis? J Oral Pathol Med 1998;
27:346.

81. Bouquot J, McMahon R. Bone marrow edema syndrome, independent disease
or early presentation of ischemic osteonecrosis? Proceedings, Annual
Meeting, American Academy of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology; Williamsburg,
Virginia; April, 2000.

82. Adams WR, Spolnick KJ, Bouquot JE. Maxillofacial osteonecrosis in a
patient with multiple facial pains. J Oral Pathol Med 1999; 28:423-432.

83. McMahon RE, Griep J, Marfurt CP, et al. Local anesthetic effects in
the presence of chronic osteomyelitis/necrosis of the mandible:
implications for localizing the etiologic sites of referred trigeminal
pain. J Craniomand Pract 1995; 13:212-226.

84. Brown RS, Hinderstein B, Reynolds DC, et al. Using anesthetic
localization to diagnose oral and dental pain. J Amer Dent Assoc 1995;
126: 633-641.

85. McMahon RE, Adams W, Spolnik K. Diagnostic anesthesia for referred
trigeminal pain, Part I. Compendium Cont Educ Dent 1992; 11:870-881.

86.McMahon RE, Adams W, Spolnik K. Diagnostic anesthesia for referred
trigeminal pain, Part II. Compendium Cont Educ Dent 1992; 11:980-997.

87. Haley BE, Pendergrass JC. www.altcorp.com. [Affinity Labeling
Technologies; University of Kentucky]

88. Koski CL. Humoral mechanisms in immune neuropathies. Neurol Clin
1992, 10:629.

89. McMahon R, Bouquot J, Mahan P, Gremillion H. Elevated serum
peripheral nerve anti-myelin antibody titers in atypical facial pain
patients with NICO. J Orofacial Pain 1994; 8:104.

90. McMahon R, Bouquot J, Mahan P, Saxen M. Elevated anti-myelin
antibodies in patients with maxillofacial osteonecrosis (NICO). J Oral
Pathol Med 1998; 27:345-346.

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------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Table 1: Alternative diagnostic names used for bone marrow
edema and ischemic osteonecrosis.1-9,14-16

Bone Marrow Edema
Ischemic Osteonecrosis

Arlet Type I osteonecrosis
Bone compartment disease
Bone marrow edema syndrome
Chronic traumatic edema
Medullary engorgement-pain syndrome
Migratory osteolysis
Migratory osteoporosis
NICO *
Post-traumatic painful osteoporosis
Post-traumatic reflex dystrophy
Primary algodystrophy
Regional ischemic osteoporosis
Regional osteoporosis
Roentgenologic transient osteoporosis
Sudeck's disease (RSD) **
Transient bone marrow edema syndrome
Transient demineralization
Transient ischemic osteoporosis
Transient marrow edema
Transient osteoporosis
Transitory demineralization in pregnancy
Aseptic necrosis
Aseptic osteomyelitis
Aseptic osteonecrosis
Avascular necrosis
Bone infarction
Coronary disease of bone
Ischemic necrosis
NICO *
Osteochondrosis desiccans
Perthe's disease


* NICO: neuralgia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis
** RSD: reflex sympathetic dystrophy

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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Table 2: Coagulation disorders found in patients with ischemic
osteonecrosis of the hips, knees and jaws. These are compared to the
proportions found in patients with deep vein thrombosis of soft tissues
and with the normal population. Resulting proportions do not total 100%
because some patients had multiple disorders. Modified from Bouquot JE,
LaMarche MG. J Pros Dent 1999; 81:148-158.

Normal Population
Deep Vein Thrombosis
Osteonecrosis

Thrombophilia

Hereditary types*
2-5%
5-9%
50-70%

Acquired types
3-7%
20-50%
33%

Hypofibrinolysis:

Hereditary types *
<1%
5-15%
18-22%

Acquired types
<1%
20-25%
50%

Total (includes multiple coagulopathies):
5-9%
20-50%
65-87%


* usually autosomal dominant

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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





Table 2: Results of surgical curettage of jawbone NICO (Neuralgia-Induced
Cavitational Osteonecrosis) lesions, an average of 4.5 years after last
surgery, in 103 patients with "idiopathic" chronic facial pain for an
average of 6 years (range: 2-18 years) prior to NICO surgery.

Reference: Bouquot JE, Christian J. Long-term effects of jawbone curettage
on the pain of facial neuralgia. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 1995; 53:387-397.

Follow-up Rating Reduction % Pain Present Status of Pain % of Total
Cases
0 0-10 % No improvement 8.8% *
1 11-33 Minimal improvement 2.9
2 34-75 Moderate improvement 15.5
3 76-99 Considerable improvement ** 13.6
4 100 No pain 59.2
Total:
100.0 %



-

Re:NICO Historical Review

"John Chewter" <john@LESS_SPAMchewter.f9.co.uk>wrote in message
Quote
Jan - do tell us that you understood all these papers? Some of the words
are longer than 'Marmalade, Can you understand trans-marmaladic words?
John, do back up you claims and you lies, rather than stalk me, then do post
something besides criticiisms od everything I post.
You have number of of questions you have never answered, is that your
problem?
Shall I ask them again, and post you insults, rather than answers.
Do grow up, John.
As a claimed amalgamist, I asked you why you didn't post any articles
showing us why you believe amalgams are toxic, here is your reply:
Quote
LL Have you ever posted any studies of this toxicity????
JC Certainly not. I am an imaging specialist.
So I kindly suggest, you shut up.
LL
Quote
John Chewter
www.keyneimage.co.uk
"LadyLollipop" <LadyLollipop@insightbb.com>wrote in message
news:TW8_d.76748$Ze3.41700@attbi_s51...
>maxillofacialcenter.com/NICOhistory.html
>
>The History of Maxillofacial Osteonecrosis (NICO)
>
>ŠThe Maxillofacial Center for Diagnostics & Research
>
>Other Links
>
>NICO Clinical Page
>NICO Home Page
>Home Page
>
>
>
>
>Topics
>Historical Overview
>1800-1930
>1930-1970
>1970-1990
>1990-2000
>References
>Tables
>Painful osteonecrosis/osteomyelitis, or "phossy jaw," of upper and
>lower jaws sloughed out when dentist tried to
>extract several teeth because of "toothache." Source: American
>Journal of Dental Science, 1859.
>
>
>The Maxillofacial Center, 165 Scott Avenue, Suite 100, Morgantown, WV
>26508 USA
>Phone: 304-292-4429 Fax: 304-291-5149 Email: MFC@aol.com
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>History of Maxillofacial Osteonecrosis (NICO)
>
>First described in 1794 in a case of septic necrosis of the femoral head,
>this enigmatic disease is as old as the dinosaurs but has been poorly
>understood and has such subtle radiographic changes that until recently
>it was seldom diagnosed prior to end-stage damage.[11-13] Contemporary
>research has so enhanced our understanding of its basic pathophysiology
>that it now bears little resemblance to the entity once known as "aseptic
>osteomyelitis."
>
>Heightened awareness and improved imaging techniques have confirmed this
>once rare disorder to be one of the most common of bone disorders. In
>certain diseases, such as lupus erythematosus, almost a third of patients
>may be affected.[9] IO is able to affect any bone of the human skeleton
>and is represented by a large number of orthopedic diseases now seen as
>simple anatomic- and age-related variations of intramedullary ischemia
>and infarction.[1-5,9,14,15]
>
>The old, overly-simplified histopathologic definition of IO as massive
>loss of osteocytes without pus is now substantially expanded to include
>specific and often subtle signs of ischemic marrow damage which may not
>even include obviously dead tissues.[2-9,14-16] Histopathologically less
>severe or nascent involvement has begun to be consolidated under a common
>diagnostic term, bone marrow edema (Table 1), and the disease is now
>known primarily as a vascular disorder readily influenced by a variety of
>risk factors or trigger events ("hits") which promote
>thrombosis.[7,9,17-21] Persons with multifocal IO are more likely to
>suffer from systemic risk factors than those with single site involvement
>and the great majority of patients have inherited or acquired a systemic
>tendency toward fibrin generation (Table 2) which predisposes them to
>microinfarction and ischemic marrow damage.[8,9,15-22]
>
>Usually associated with pain, IO can nevertheless show a surprising
>capacity to remain painless until great destruction has occurred, even to
>the point of joint collapse for hip lesions -- there is little
>correlation between the degree of bone involvement and the intensity of
>associated pain.[5,9] The pain can take on a neuralgic character but its
>etiology is primarily a function of intraosseous fluid dynamics and
>inflammatory mediators rather than damaged nerves, as discussed
>later.[4,5,9,11,14-16]
>
>Top Of This Page
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>The Pre-Antibiotic Era: 1850-1930.
>
>IO of the maxillofacial region is not new to dentistry. During the
>pre-antibiotic era "phossy jaw" and other forms of "chemical
>osteomyelitis" resulted from environmental pollutants, such as lead and
>the phosphorus used in safety matches, as well as from popular
>medications containing mercury, arsenic or bismuth.[23-29] This disease
>was well established by 1867, did not often occur in individuals with
>good gingival health, and appeared to "attack" the mandible first.[25]
>It was associated with localized or generalized deep ache or pain, often
>of multiple jawbone sites. The teeth often appeared sound and
>suppuration was not present. Even so, the dentist often began extracting
>one tooth after another in the region of pain, often with temporary
>relief but usually to no real effect.[24] Occasionally, large fragments
>of necrotic bone would come out with the tooth, sometimes involving much
>of an entire quadrant, as depicted in the figure at the top of this page.
>Apparently, Lorinser of Vienna in 1845 was the first to call attention to
>the problem.[25]
>
>Less severe cases of maxillofacial osteonecrosis were discussed in the
>classic 1898 oral pathology text by Barrett,[28] wherein he described
>"caries" and "necrosis" of bone with cellular "devitalization" and
>"inhibition of nutrient currents," characterized by a slowly progressive
>"breaking down" of the "territory" of marrow tissues receiving those
>nutrients and resulting in little or no production of granulation tissue.
>He had no suggested etiology for his cases. Thirty years earlier and
>more than a century ahead of his time, Noel[27] separated bone caries
>into two distinct categories: "bone death" and the less intense "reduced
>vitality." Even earlier, the 1848 text by Thomas Bond[23], which appears
>to be the first true oral pathology text, was the first book to discuss
>bone necrosis as such, emphasizing that this disease did not require
>abscessed teeth or gums, could result in the complete death of bone.
>Bond mentioned that "necrosis may be caused by any means which destroys
>the nutrition of the bone or any part of it"-- usually from
>"constitutional vitiations, or defects of nutrition consequent upon
>general pravity." His recommended treatment: "when necrosis has taken
>place, the bone must be removed."
>
>G. V. Black,[29] the father of modern dentistry, described in 1915 an
>osteomyelitis look-alike disease which he called "chronic osteitis." He
>described slow bone death "cell by cell" with the creation of alveolar
>intramedullary "cavities" up to 5 cm. in size and wondered about its
>unique ability to produce extensive bone destruction without pus, without
>redness and swelling of the overlying tissues, without an increase in the
>patient's body temperature, and often without pain. His suggestion to
>curette diseased bone reiterated the treatment proposed by Ferguson[24]
>in 1868 and by Bond[23] in 1848. Around the same time period
>osteonecrosis of the hip in children was being recognized by the author's
>whose names would eventually be affixed to that disease, i.e. the
>Legg-Calv?Perthes disease.[31-33]
>
>Top Of This Page
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>The Forgotten Decades: 1930-1970.
>
>For most of the twentieth century this disease was largely forgotten by
>the dental profession, although a few investigators made significant
>contributions to the advancement of our understanding. Wilensky[24] and
>Hankey[25] suggested that persistent regional necrosis in osteomyelitis
>of the jaws was secondary to vascular insufficiency, while Brosch[26]
>described the potential for hollow medullary spaces to enlarge and
>coalesce one with another. Thoma[37,38] was likely the first to
>specifically correlate this "residual infection" or "osteitis" with old
>extraction sites, many of which demonstrated focal "necrotic exudates,"
>fibrosis and "osteoclastic resorption" of surrounding bone. His
>observations were affirmed in 1955 by Box,[34] who reported a very large
>series of limited intraosseous cavitations or "vacuolations" in old
>extraction sites with no production of pus or bony sequestra. Box was
>especially intrigued by the radiographic subtlety of the disease, by its
>multifocal nature, its localized tenderness without inflammatory signs,
>and the neuralgia-like nature of accompanying pain.
>
>Top Of This Page
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>The Over-Emphasis of Pain: 1970-1990.
>
>The 1970s and 1980s saw a strong emphasis placed on the neuralgia-like
>pains often accompanying osteonecrosis of the maxillofacial region, an
>influence embodied in the currently popular diagnostic name NICO
>(neuralgia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis).[40-48] Significant or
>complete pain reduction was achieved in chronic "idiopathic" facial pain
>by the simple expedient of decortication and curettage of damaged
>alveolar bone (Table 3), supporting the contention by neural researchers
>that persistent odontogenic and osseous disease can be important
>contributing factors for such neuralgias.44-49 None of these
>investigations included a control group, nor has any facial neuralgia
>follow-up study. Ethical considerations and the ever-present potential
>for silent or subclinical disease will likely prevent valid control
>groups from being identified, but a 1995 NICO follow-up investigation
>confirming earlier surgical successes went so far as to guarantee patient
>anonymity, to use a well-established pain evaluation instrument instead
>of surgeon records to determine outcomes, and to use a third party to
>collect and analyze data in order to reduce potential biases.[50]
>
>Unfortunately, the major emphasis on the association with neuralgic pain
>initiated significant controversy among professionals treating
>"idiopathic" facial pain and kept involved researchers from focusing on
>other features of the disease process, such as more appropriate diagnoses
>and diagnostic techniques, and better understanding of the
>pathophysiology and pathoetiology of the disease. Early lesions were
>diagnosed by a number of independent pathologists as chronic
>osteomyelitis, and microorganisms cultured from many NICO lesions,
>combined with occasional facial pain relief with antibiotic therapy,
>assured that these cases would be diagnosed and treated as chronic
>osteomyelitis. And yet, a significant number of patients did not respond
>in a fashion appropriate to that diagnosis. This led some investigators
>to seek alternative interpretations for the biological behavior and
>histopathology. A critical shift in perspective (return to the original
>concepts?) occurred in 1989 when this odd alveolar disease began to be
>viewed primarily as a problem of compromised medullary blood flow driven
>by progressive thrombosis, rather than as a unique infection unknown to
>other bones.[56,57]
>
>This new perspective as a maxillofacial manifestation of IO provided, for
>the first time, a logical explanation for the curiously multifocal nature
>of the disease; its frequent intermingling of ischemically damaged and
>normal marrow (also influenced by the perfusion irregularities of fatty
>marrow[58]), its frequent lack of inflammatory cells, its remarkably
>chronic and recurring character, its deep bone pain and varied pain
>syndromes, its relatively high failure rate with local interventions, and
>its primary localization at the ends of the arterial inflow (retromolar
>and subcrestal alveolar regions) where weak, irregular blood flow favors
>the formation of intravascular thrombi.[5,7,9,14,15,59]
>
>This is not to say that intraosseous microorganisms do not represent a
>significant risk factor or triggering mechanism for thrombosis in these
>stagnant zones of cancellous bone. Affected bone is ideal fodder for
>periodontal and periapical bacteria chronically stimulating inflammatory
>and immune responses.[60-62] Impaired medullary circulation prevents
>proper healing in these instances and the chronic infection, in turn,
>enhances local and systemic clotting. This further exacerbates the
>medullary ischemia and initiates a slow, ever-increasing spiral of
>thrombosis and microinfarction with progressively elevating
>intramedullary pressures, additional thrombosis, and frequent propagation
>of spontaneous pain. Prothrombotic factors, especially fibrinogen, also
>allow increased adherence of bacteria to thrombin-activated endothelial
>cells.[63]
>
>Top Of This Page
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Decade of Major Advances: 1990-2000.
>
>Once it became clear that this disease of the jaws resembled avascular
>necrosis of other bones, investigators used newly available laboratory
>tests, including allele-specific polymerase chain reaction, to identify
>in NICO patients heritable disorders predisposing to adverse thrombotic
>events. At least 72% proved to be afflicted with a variety of such
>disorders, as compared to 70-87% for patients with IO of the hip and
>knee.[9,19-21,64-67 This was seen as a major breakthrough, eventuating in
>the use of anticoagulants (without surgery or antibiotics) in persons
>with NICO and hip osteonecrosis.[68-71] Although not all affected
>individuals benefited, the significant pain relief experienced by a large
>proportion of treated patients confirms an association in those persons
>between the symptoms of IO and the hypercoagulable disorders.[69,71]
>
>Viewing NICO as the oral manifestation of a systemic disease also allowed
>application of the clinicopathologic qualities of long bone disease to
>maxillofacial cases, especially the use of diagnostic imaging techniques
>such as 99technetium-MDP (99mTc-MDP) scintigraphy and Single Proton
>Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) scans, instead of the indium and
>gallium scans typically used for bone infections.[64,72-74] The small
>number of chronic inflammatory cells found in NICO lesions makes
>radioisotopes which attach to leukocytes much less useful than those
>which attach to new or exposed bone matrix. There is usually a small
>amount of ongoing healing in IO lesions and so they present as "hot
>spots" of increased radioisotope uptake, with "cold spots" of extremely
>reduced uptake in the occasional severely desiccated lesion. Newly
>developed 99mTc isotopes directed at fibrin "-chain peptide may prove
>useful for patients actively forming microclots.[75]
>
>A substantial proportion (25-35%) of scans will be falsely negative
>because the disease has long periods during which no bone is destroyed or
>regenerated, even as symptoms and marrow damage progress. This holds true
>regardless of the affected bone, but maxillofacial involvement suffers
>from an unexpected false-negative phenomenon: radiologists not attuned to
>jawbone ischemia often interpret a hot spot of alveolar bone as "normal,"
>presuming it to relate to ubiquitous dental and periodontal disease. We
>recommend, therefore, that the surgeon review all films interpreted as
>negative. Thin-sliced spiral CT scans and ultrasonic scans have also
>proven effective in localizing NICO, although they require very careful
>evaluation.[76] MRI scans are valuable for the rounded ends of bones but
>in our experience are of little benefit in alveolar cases.[77,78]
>
>In a similar fashion the more contemporary histopathologic features of
>ischemic osteonecrosis and bone marrow edema (its less severe
>counterpart) often overlooked by or unfamiliar to oral pathologists,
>could be applied to maxillofacial examples with the notable caveat that
>there are no features of cortical collapse in jaw lesions and odontogenic
>infections are often superimposed.[1-9,57] Additionally, microscopic
>evaluation of maxillofacial biopsy samples is made much more difficult by
>the small number and size of available curettage fragments, especially
>when an intramedullary cavitation exists, in contradistinction to the
>large specimens available for study after resection and core biopsies of
>long bone cases. Recent analyses have, significantly, reported that
>almost 3/4 of jawbone biopsy samples of ischemic osteonecrosis and NICO
>can be classified as the histologically more subtle variants called bone
>marrow edema or regional ischemic osteoporosis.[81,82] This has helped
>to explain why some oral pathologists, certainly not the majority, have
>difficulty distinguishing the classic features from "normal" bone and
>bone marrow.
>
>The first microscopic review of a large series of biopsied cases of NICO
>was reported during the 1990s, as was the first necropsy example.[57,82]
>These papers strongly emphasized the multifocal nature of the disease,
>while others reinforced the strong association between chronic facial
>pain and inflammatory or ischemic marrow disease.[55,83] In this light,
>one of the most important advances was the refinement of the old
>anesthesia/hyperesthesia and microanesthesia diagnostic tests to more
>successfully localize areas of medullary disease in facial pain
>patients.[84-86]
>
>During the 1990s sophisticated assays were also applied, for the first
>time, to maxillofacial osteonecrosis. Haley and Pendergras[87] used a
>well-established neurotoxicity assay on a very large number of tissue
>samples, finding almost all to be extremely toxic -- often more toxic
>than hydrogen sulfide, the chemical normally used to establish maximum
>level of neurotoxicity. The exact nature of the toxin is not yet known,
>but the discovery of the neurotoxicity led some to question whether or
>not this process damaged the peripheral nerve myelin of the alveolar
>nerves. This idea was further stimulated by the finding in a small
>number of NICO biopsy samples of an unusual form of nonwallerian
>degeneration in the majority of visible nerves.[55] To this end the
>blood of another small sample of NICO patients was evaluated by a
>newly-established assay which, for the first time, allowed the
>determination of circulating antibodies against peripheral nerve
>myelin.[88] The sera of healthy humans normally show none of these
>antibodies, as was true for a few of the NICO patients, but other NICO
>patients had antibody levels as high as or higher than those found in the
>classic demyelination disease, the Guillain-Barr?syndrome.[89,90] This
>suggests chronic exposure of the peripheral myelin to the immune system,
>either as a primary attack (autoimmune) or secondary to myelin exposed or
>partially destroyed by a local inflammatory/ischemic phenomenon.
>
>While some patients had no such antibodies, others demonstrated Elevated
>levels of circulating anti-peripheral nerve myelin (anti-PNM) antibodies
>have been found in NICO patients, suggesting .120-122 Chronic nerve
>damage is likely enhanced by the very high levels of neurotoxicity found
>by bioassay in virtually all tissue samples of maxillofacial
>osteonecrosis, although the responsible neurotoxins have not yet been
>identified.123
>
>Top Of This Page
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>References
>
>1. Burwell RG, Harrison MHM (eds). Symposium: Perthes' disease. Clin
>Orthop 1986; 209:2-161,234.
>
>2. Milgram JW. Radiologic and histologic pathology of nontumorous
>diseases of bones and joints. Northbrook, Illinois, Northbrook
>Publishing, 1990, vol 2, p 868.
>
>3. Ono K, ed. Symposium: recent advances in avascular necrosis. Clin
>Orthop 1992; 277:2.
>
>4. Schoutens A, Arlet J, Gardeniers JWM, Hughes SPF. Bone circulation
>and vascularization in normal and pathological conditions. New York,
>Plenum Press, 1993.
>
>5. Steinberg ME, Steinberg DR. Osteonecrosis. In: Kelly WN, Harris ED
>Jr, Ruddy S, Sledge CB. Textbook of rheumatology (4th ed). Philadelphia,
>W.B. Saunders; 1993, p 1628.
>
>6. Mazieres B. Osteonecrosis. In: Klippel JH, Dieppe PA (eds).
>Rheumatology. St. Louis, Mosby; 1994, 41.1.
>
>7. Bullough, PG. Orthopaedic pathology (3rd ed). Baltimore, Mosby-Wolfe,
>1997.
>
>8. Jones JP Jr. Osteonecrosis. In: Koopman WJ (ed). Arthritis and allied
>conditions; a textbook of Rheumatology (13th ed). Baltimore, Williams &
>Wilkins, 1997,1923
>
>9. Urbaniak JR, Jones, JP Jr (eds). Osteonecrosis -- etiology,
>diagnosis, and treatment. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons;
>Chicago, Illinois, 1997.
>
>10. Phemister, DB. Repair of bone in the presence of aseptic necrosis
>resulting from fractures, transplantations, and vascular obstruction. J
>Bone Joint Surg 1930; 12:769.
>
>11. Russell J. A practical essay on a certain disease of bones termed
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