Malacia is abnormal softening of a biological tissue, most often cartilage. The word is derived from Greek μαλακός, malakos = soft. Usually the combining form -malacia suffixed to another combining form that denotes the affected tissue assigns a more specific name to each such disorder, as follows:
- Osteomalacia (rickets), a bone disorder from vitamin D deficiency [1]
- Chondromalacia, softening of cartilage (often refers to chondromalacia patellae when mentioned without further specification)
- Chondromalacia patellae, a disorder of cartilage under the kneecap [2]
- Bronchomalacia, a disorder of the bronchial tubes' cartilage [3]
- Laryngomalacia, a disorder of the larynx's cartilage
- Tracheomalacia, a disorder of the trachea's cartilage [3]
- Keratomalacia, an eye disorder from vitamin A deficiency
- Myelomalacia, a disorder of the spinal cord
- Cerebral softening (encephalomalacia), localized softening of brain tissue
References edit
- ^ Cianferotti, Luisella (28 November 2022). "Osteomalacia Is Not a Single Disease". International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 23 (23): 14896. doi:10.3390/ijms232314896. ISSN 1422-0067. PMC 9740398. PMID 36499221.
- ^ Kong, Yuefeng; Yu, Hanhua (31 January 2023). "A study on the correlation between patellofemoral joint morphology and early patella malacia in young adults: quantitative analysis based on magnetic resonance". Annals of Translational Medicine. 11 (2): 48. doi:10.21037/atm-22-6200. ISSN 2305-5839. PMC 9929829. PMID 36819493.
- ^ a b Pan, Wei; Peng, Donghong; Luo, Jian; Liu, Enmei; Luo, Zhengxiu; Dai, Jihong; Fu, Zhou; Li, Qubei; Huang, Ying (2014). "Clinical features of airway malacia in children: a retrospective analysis of 459 patients". International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine. 7 (9): 3005–3012. PMC 4211825. PMID 25356175.
External links edit
Look up malacia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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