Intoxication by the chickling pea (Lathyrus sativus): nervous system and skeletal findings.
Two hundred patients with chronic neurolathyrism were examined 25-35 years after the appearance of signs and symptoms of intoxication of the chickling pea. Their daily food intake, in a German forced labor camp during World War II, consisted of 400 g Lathyrus sativus peas cooked in water plus 200 g bread baked of barley and straw. Apart from the classic signs of neurolathyrism, i.e., a spastic paraparesis, in five cases, the skeletal findings observed were similar to experimental osteolathyrism. There was an absence of ossification centers of the iliac creasts, ischial tuberosities and vertebrae; and bowing with thickening of the femoral shaft also occurred. These bony changes in human lathyrism have not been described before.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001847:Bone Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007842:Lathyrism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D010012:Osteogenesis; D011859:Radiography