Osteo-arthritis of the sterno-clavicular joint.

According to Langen (1934), who made an extensive study of the pathology of degenerative processes in the sterno-clavicular joint in 200 necropsies, it may be involved from the age of 20 and constantly shows signs of osteo-arthritis after the age of 50. However, few authors seem to have made clinical observations of degenerative disease at this site (Bonola and Mastragostino, 1954; Westermann, 1942). Having noticed the precocity and functional severity of involvement of this joint in two cases in which surgery was performed, we became interested in the clinical and pathological picture of the disease and also made a study of material brought to necropsy. Material The first group of patients was discovered among fifteen who complained precisely and exclusively of pain in the sterno-clavicular joint; eight of them proved to have sterno-clavicular osteo-arthritis (Table I). TABLE I