A case of myositis ossificans traumatica on one skeleton from Viminacium

Abstract

The Roman city and military camp of Viminacium is situated between the villages of Stari Kostolac and Drmno, 12 kilometres north-east of Pozarevac, close to the confluence of the Mlava and the Danube. During its history, it became the biggest urban settlement and the capital of the province of Upper Moesia (Moesia Superior), later First Moesia (Moesia Prima). In one of the necropoles of Viminacium, Pecine, in grave No. 5785, skeletal remains of a juvenile male individual were discovered. The burial took place in Late Antiquity. Anthropological analyses revealed a fracture of the right femur followed by myositis ossificans traumatica. The trauma to the bone can damage the overlying muscle and, occasionally, the muscle tissue will respond to the trauma by producing bone directly in the muscle tissue itself. This condition is known as myositis ossificans traumafica (post-traumatic myositis ossificans or myositis ossificans circumscripta) and is most likely to occur in response to trauma in young male individuals, and in the femoral (the quadriceps muscles) or humeral region (brachium muscles).