Xlviii.—recklinghausen's Neurofibromatosis and the Skeleton

Brooks and Lehman in 1924 reported seven cases of Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis1in which marked changes in the bones were observed. This material was published in a surgical periodical and probably did not become known generally among dermatologists. At least, recent dermatologic papers on Recklinghausen's disease attach no significance to these interesting and probably fundamental manifestations. For that reason, the following report of two additional cases is presented. Bone changes found in association with Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis have been noted here and there throughout the rich literature of the disease. No attempt to classify them or to define them as expressions of this complex disease comparable to skin and visceral expressions had been made previous to our report, with the exception of the observation of the common occurrence of scoliosis by Engman and Weiss.2 Three types of bone change were described by us: (1) scoliosis; (2) abnormalities of growth of individual