page_title: Panner disease
section_title: Mechanism
hierarchical_section_title: Panner disease / Mechanism
context_page_description: Panner disease is an osteochondrosis of the capitellum of the elbow. Panner disease is primarily seen in boys between the ages of five and ten years old. Panner disease is often caused by excessive throwing due to valgus stress. The disease causes pain and stiffness in the affected elbow and may limit extension; the affected elbow is usually on the dominant arm the child uses. The disease may be associated with pitching and athletic activity. On radiographs, the capitellum may appear irregular with areas of radiolucency. Treatment is symptomatic, with a good prognosis. Treatment is minimal and includes restricting athletic activity to allow for the elbow to heal and for pain to be relieved. The disease is named after the Danish radiologist Hans Jessen Panner.
context_section_description: Panner Disease affects the elbow of the arm. At the elbow, the humerus meets the ulna and the radius. The humerus is the long bone that runs from the shoulder to the elbow, and the ulna and radius are the two bones that make up the forearm. The capitellum is the rounded knob on the end of the humerus and it is held by the radius due the radius's cup-like shape. Panner Disease is part of a family of bone development diseases known as osteochondrosis. In osteochondrosis, the blood supply to an area of developing bone in the dominant elbow is temporarily disrupted by something that is not yet well understood. Therefore, the tissues in the bone are not getting enough blood and they begin to go through necrosis, and they begin to die. Normally, bones grow by the expansion and uniting of the growth plates, but osteochondrosis disrupts this process and the result is cell death and the loss of newly formed tissue. The death of the tissues eventually leads to deterioration of the bone's growth plate. The bone's growth plate is defined as the area at the end of a developing bone where cartilage cells change into bone cells. The bone tissue does regrow, but the necrosis can cause temporary problems in the affected area until the strenuous arm and elbow activity is significantly decreased or stopped for a period of time.
  It is believed that Panner Disease is a precursor to a similar condition called osteochondritis dissecans of the capitellum (OCD). OCD is different from Panner disease because OCD occurs in older children and it does not involve the growth plate because by the time that OCD occurs the growth plates have already fused and the skeleton has finished growing.
caption: The capitellum is the rounded knob on the end of the humerus, and it is held by the radius.