In DISH, the axial skeleton is typically involved, especially the thoracic spine. But, when researchers realized that the disease was not limited to the spine and that it could affect peripheral joints, they re-named it Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis.
Symptoms and Characteristics Characteristically, DISH involves the production of osteophytes along the right side of the thoracic spine (with intervertebral disk space unchanged) and ossification of the anterior longitudinal ligament. Calcification and ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament can also occur in DISH, as well as entheseal areas, including the peripatellar ligaments, plantar fascia, Achilles tendon, olecranon (part of the ulna beyond the elbow joint), and more....