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Blade of Grass
"Flame Sign" - Paget Disease


General Considerations

  • V-spaded lucency in the metadiaphysis, usually seen in a long bone and representing the lytic phase of Paget disease
  • Most often seen in femur and tibia
  • In the skull, the lytic defect is referred to as osteoporosis circumscripta, most often seen in the frontal bone

Clinical Findings

  • Usually asymptomatic

Imaging Findings

  • Seen usually in the axial and appendicular skeleton
  • The most common findings in Paget disease are in the later, sclerotic phase and include
    • Thickening of the cortex
    • Accentuation of the trabecular pattern
    • Enlargement of the affected bone
    • Increase in density but decrease in overall strength of involved bone

blade of grass


Blade-of-grass sign.
V-shaped lucency (white arrow) in metaphysis of femur from the lytic phase of Paget disease.
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