Heterotopic ossification generally means that bone forms within soft tissues, including muscle, ligaments, or other tissues.
Often abbreviated “H.O.,” heterotopic ossification can occur just about anywhere in the body.
Heterotopic bone often forms after surgery, injury, or sometimes for unknown reasons.
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Symptoms
The most common symptom of heterotopic ossification is stiffness of a joint.
Heterotopic bone often forms around the hip or elbow joints, making bending of these joints difficult.
Other symptoms may include a mass that can be felt, deformity of the area, or pain.
The body constantly makes new bone to replace bone within the skeleton.
When fractures occur in the bone, new bone is formed to heal the damaged bone.
In people with heterotopic bone formation, a similar process takes place, but often for an unknown reason.
The process of new bone formation is called skeletogenesis.
When this process occurs outside of where normal bone should exist, the result is called heterotopic ossification.
The consequences can range from inconsequential to severe.
In some cases, heterotopic bone will only be noticed because an x-ray was done for an unrelated concern.
There are several causes of heterotopic bone formation.
At that point, surgery may be considered to remove the bone.
In fact, in these patients, performing surgery to remove the abnormal bone may worsen the overall condition.
These treatments are in the earliest stages of investigation.
Radiation treatment is controversial, as radiation can cause tissue damage and delayed healing where surgery has been performed.
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