Ribbing disease

Abstract

Ribbing disease is a rare sclerosing dysplasia that involves long tubular bones, especially the tibia and femur. It occurs after puberty and is reported to be more common in women. In this article we describe how Ribbing disease can be differentiated from diseases like Engelmann-Camurati disease, van Buchem disease, Erdheim-Chester disease, osteoid osteoma, chronic osteomyelitis, stress fracture, etc.

Keywords: Ribbing disease; imaging; sclerosing.

Figure 1

Frontal radiograph of both legs reveals sclerosis of the mid diaphysis of both tibias, right more than left (arrows)

Figure 2

Axial plain CT scan of the right tibia demonstrates severe cortical thickening, with almost complete obliteration of the medullary cavity (arrows)

Figure 3 (a,b)

Short tau inversion recovery coronal (a) and axial (b) images show cortical thickening (arrows) with bone marrow edema in the diaphysis of both tibias (arrow heads) and minimal adjacent soft tissue edema

Figure 4 (a,b)

Anterior (a) and posterior (b) projections of a whole body Tc-99 m methylene diphosphonate bone scan show focal intense activity (arrows) in both tibial diaphyses (right more than left)