Chondrodystrophy

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Chondrodystrophy (literally, "cartilage bad-nourishment") is a descriptive term no longer in use in the medical literature. It refers to a skeletal disorder caused by one of myriad genetic mutations that can affect hyaline cartilage. The proper term for such a disorder is a skeletal dysplasia.

Hyaline cartilage caps the long bones and the spinal vertebrae. Most childhood limb growth takes place at the ends of the long bones, not in the shaft. Normally, as a child grows, the most interior portion of the joint cartilage converts into bone, and new cartilage forms on the surface to maintain smooth joints. The old joint margins (edges) resorb, so that the overall shape of the joint is maintained as growth continues. Failure of this process throughout the body results in a skeletal dysplasia, that is, dwarfism. It also leads to very early onset of osteoarthritis, because the defective cartilage is extremely fragile and vulnerable to normal wear and tear.