Dry bone histology : technicalities, diagnostic value and new applications

Abstract

This thesis presents an easy, rapid and inexpensive supplement to the well-known method of Maat et al. (2001). This new method allows for the histochemical staining of dry bone material, enhancing the visibility of important hallmarks of dry bone histomorphology. In addition, this thesis provides a new, easy, rapid and inexpensive method for the production of sections of fragile dry bone tissue, histochemically stained or not. Furthermore we show that dry bone histology is a valuable tool in the diagnosis of bone disorders. Although the majority of bone disorders have no pathognomonic dry bone histomorphology, histology may still have a considerable value for the differential diagnostic process. Finally, when studying mechanical trauma, dry bone histology is a valuable tool for the estimation of posttraumatic survival time, especially when used in conjunction with gross anatomical and radiological analyses.