What causes cartilage inflammation

Cartilage is the only organ in our body that will not become cancerous. In normal life, rickets is rare. Rickets is also commonly known as cartilage inflammation, which causes localized pain and swelling. Rickets is caused by the infection of the perichondrium by external bacteria. In daily life, we should fully supplement this and vitamin D, and get enough sun exposure to prevent the occurrence of rickets.

Reason 1

Cartilage inflammation generally occurs in the costal cartilage, which is called costochondritis. It is a non-inflammatory swelling and pain at the junction of the costal cartilage and the ribs. It is usually caused by viral infection and other factors or is believed to be related to injury. A large number of clinical practices have confirmed that costochondritis is caused by the forward transmission of damaging pain in the soft tissue beside the thoracic spinous process (especially the multifidus and rotator muscles attached to the small joints and spinous processes) or the three muscles soft tissue on the back of the scapula. The onset may be acute or slow. Acute cases may occur suddenly, with a feeling of stabbing, throbbing or soreness in the chest; insidious cases may develop slowly, causing the junction of the ribs and costal cartilage to become arched, swollen, and dull pain, sometimes radiating to the shoulders, back, armpits, neck and chest, and sometimes chest tightness and shortness of breath. The pain is relieved by resting or lying on the side, but worsens with deep breathing, coughing, lying flat, chest straightening and fatigue. No obvious abnormalities were found in X-rays, and there is generally no obvious clinical classification.

Reason 2

Cartilage itself has no blood vessels, and its blood supply mainly comes from the perichondrium. After the perichondrium is infected, the cartilage necrotizes due to lack of blood supply, causing the infection to persist and penetrate the skin to form sinuses. Infectious costochondritis is caused by infection of the costal perichondrium, leading to ischemic necrosis of the cartilage and is associated with insensitivity to antibiotics. Due to the anatomical characteristics, the 1st to 4th costal cartilages exist independently and generally do not spread to the adjacent costal cartilages after infection. However, the 5th to 10th costal cartilages are connected to each other by the adjacent cartilages and are connected to the opposite side through the xiphoid process of the sternum. After infection, the inflammation can spread to each other, affecting multiple costal cartilages on the same side, and can spread to the opposite side through the xiphoid process, expanding the scope of infection.

Pus and granulation tissue form around the infected costal cartilage. The surface of the ischemic and necrotic costal cartilage is not smooth and has a worm-eaten appearance. Some become thinner and rat-tail-like, while others can be completely absorbed. Infectious costochondritis is mostly secondary, and nowadays costochondritis caused by infection after thoracic surgery is the most common. The pathogens are mainly pyogenic bacteria. This requires emphasis on prevention, strict aseptic operation, and trying to avoid or reduce damage to the costal perichondrium to reduce its occurrence.