Malacia

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

1. ↑ Cianferotti, Luisella (28 November 2022). "Osteomalacia Is Not a Single Disease". International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23 (23). doi:10.3390/ijms232314896. ISSN 1422-0067. PMID 36499221.
2. ↑ 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. PMID 36819493.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pan, Wei; Peng, Donghong; Luo, Jian; Liu, Enmei; Luo, Zhengxiu; Dai, Jihong; Fu, Zhou; Li, Qubei et al. (2014). "Clinical features of airway malacia in children: a retrospective analysis of 459 patients" (in en). International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine 7 (9): 3005–3012. PMID 25356175.

## External links

* Definition at MedineNet.com

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