Vitamin D Deficiency Rickets

  • Etiology: deficiency of Vitamin D
  • Imaging: loss of zone of provisional calcification leading to apparent physeal widening, stress from ligament attachments leading to fraying and flared / cupped metaphyses, demineralization, findings most apparent in bones growing rapidly: distal radius + femur / costochondral junctions (rachitic rosary)

Radiology Cases of Vitamin D Deficiency Rickets

Radiograph of Vitamin D deficiency rickets
CXR AP (above) shows prominence of the anterior ribs near the costochondral junctions (rachitic rosary). AP and lateral radiograph of the wrist (below) shows cupping of the distal radius and ulna metaphyses.