What are the indications for shoulder replacement surgery? The most common indication for shoulder replacement remains primary glenohumeral osteoarthritis. Other indications include complex proximal humeral fractures, rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory arthropathies, humeral head osteonecrosis, instability arthropathy, posttraumatic arthritis, chronic fixed glenohumeral dislocation, ro...

Polyfibromatosis syndrome is a rare disease entity that is characterized by various clinical features such as palmar, plantar, and penile fibromatoses, keloid formations of the skin, and erosive arthropathy. Its precise pathophysiology or etiology remains unclear. In addition to distinctive diverse skin manifestations, patients with polyfibromatosis have been previously reported to show erosive...

The non-involved, healthy-looking skin of psoriatic patients displays inherent characteristics that make it prone to develop typical psoriatic symptoms. Our primary aim was to identify genes and proteins that are differentially regulated in the non-involved psoriatic and the normal epidermis, and to discover regulatory networks responsible for these differences. A cDNA microarray experiment was...

As nucleotide catabolism increases during tissue injury the appearance of purine metabolites in inflamed synovial fluid might be of value in understanding the joint damage in inflammatory arthritides. In this study, therefore, synovial and plasma concentrations of hypoxanthine, xanthine, and urate in 16 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (three with psoriatic arthropathy) were analysed. It was ...

Objective: Patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection may show a variety of rheumatic symptoms and signs. Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) is widely used as as a marker, particularly for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and may be positive in some diseases that also cause arthritis, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, familial Mediterranean fever, Behçet’s disease, and psor...

Charcot spinal arthropathy is a rare, progressive type of vertebral joint degeneration that occurs in the setting of any preexisting condition characterized by decreased afferent innervation to the extent that normal protective joint sensation in the vertebral column is impaired. The authors report on a case of Charcot arthropathy of the lower lumbar spine mimicking a spinal tumor following cer...

Three middle-aged patients with diabetes sustained fractures of the acetabulum which were treated by open reduction and internal fixation. In each, rapid dissolution of the femoral head occurred with minimal discomfort, typical of a Charcot arthropathy. The patients had no other evidence of neuropathic arthropathy. Charcot changes may occur after high-energy trauma in patients with diabetes.

Lead foreign bodies in joint spaces, often due to projectiles such as bullets, may cause localized arthropathy. There are no reports of joint fracture related to lead arthropathy. Additionally, lead foreign bodes embedded in the joint space may be a source of systemic lead absorption, causing elevated blood lead levels and toxicity to other organs. We present a young adult patient with retained...

Human T-cell lymphoma virus (HTLV)-associated adult T-cell leukemia lymphoma is a rare cancer in the United States, but there are several areas around the world where the virus is endemic. HTLV-associated adult T-cell leukemia lymphoma has been associated with leukemic arthropathy. We present a patient with HTLV-associated adult T-cell leukemia lymphoma with leukemic arthropathy. Although non-s...

Thioureas, often contained within neoprene to provide water resistance, are an important cause of allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) in those who use neoprene products. We wish to present three cases of thiourea-induced ACD from three different orthopaedic supports containing neoprene. The first case was a 67-year-old woman who developed an itchy rash on her heel three weeks after using a neopre...