Contentious Bones
A Case Study on the Skeletal System
WH Cliff and AW Wright
Your 80 year-old great aunt, Persis, was placing a canning jar on the top shelf of her pantry
when she stepped awkwardly off the stool and twisted her leg at the hip. She felt a sharp pain in
her hip and, after collapsing to the floor, found she could no longer stand. She was taken to the
emergency room where an X ray showed that the neck of her femur was fractured. More
detailed X ray images revealed reduced bone mass in the head and neck regions of the injured
femur, in the ends of other long bones of the body and in the vertebrae. Surgery was necessary
to repair the fractured femur and a biopsy of the bone tissue indicated that the composition of the
osteoid was normal. Healing of the fractured femur is proceeding slowly.
1. What organ(s) is(are) involved?
2. What primary tissue type is involved?
3. What specific type of tissue is affected?
Trabeculae tissue
4. What specific types of cells produce the normal microanatomy of the tissue?
5a. What is the significance of your great aunt's age and gender?