It may affect any part of the skeleton, but the most common sites of disease are the shoulder, skull, pelvic girdle, jaw, ribs, and spine.

More commonly, pain of no apparent cause increases in frequency and intensity over time and may eventually be accompanied by weakness and noticeable deformity of the area.

The disease may stabilize after a number of years, go into spontaneous remission, or in cases involving the chest and upper spine, prove fatal.

The loss of chyle into the chest can have serious consequences, including infection, malnutrition, and respiratory distress and failure.

These complications or their symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, chest pain, poor growth or weight loss, and infection have sometimes been the first indications of the condition.

[9] Beginning in the 1990s, elevated levels of a protein called interleukin-6 (IL-6) being detected in people with the disease were reported, leading some to suggest that increased levels of IL-6 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) may contribute to the chemical changes Gorham and others believed were the cause of this type of osteolysis.

They further stated that their histopathological study provided good evidence that osteolytic changes seen in Gorham's disease are the result of hyperactive osteoclastic bone.

Once the cortex (the outer shell) of the bone has been disrupted, vascular channels may invade adjacent soft tissues and joints.

Surgical biopsy with histological identification of the vascular or lymphatic proliferation within a generous section of the affected bone is an essential component in the diagnostic process.

[citation needed] Sometimes, the bone destruction spontaneously ceases and no treatment is required, but when the disease is progressive, aggressive intervention may be necessary.

[citation needed] Gorham's disease is extremely rare and may occur at any age, though it is most often recognized in children and young adults.

Abnormalities of the remaining bones of the arm and shoulder are noted and the authors report that the arteries, veins, and nerves appeared normal.

[17][18][19] Dr. Gorham practiced and taught medicine and oncology and from the mid-1950s through the early 1960s conducted and reported the classical clinicopathological investigations of pulmonary embolism.

This work became the model for the Atlas of Tumor Pathology project, which Stout oversaw as chairman of the National Research Council in the 1950s.

In his later years, Dr. Stout embarked on a systematic study of soft tissue tumors in children and was among the first to link cigarette smoking to lung cancer.