Synovial chondromatosis of the wrist

Abstract

Synovial chondromatosis is the process of progressive metaplasia associated with formation of cartilage in synovial membranes of joints, tendon sheaths or bursae. It is a rare, chronic, benign disease with unknown etiology which involves single joint. It is generally seen in large joints like knee, hip and, ankle. Wrist involvement is very rare. More common diagnoses with calcified foci and effusion in a joint like rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, synovial osteochondromatosis, chondrocalcinosis, calcifications that occur after septic arthritis and synovial chondrosarcoma may interfere with this condition. And high recurrence rate makes the treatment challenging for orthopaedic surgeon. Treatment consists of surgically removing loose bodies and partial or total synovectomy. Here, we present a 31 years old male patient referred to our clinic with painfull recurrent wrist mass. And patient was reoperated for synovial chondromatosis of wrist 17 months after the first operation. We represented the preoperative findings and histopathologic confirmation of synovial chondromatosis. We didn’t encounter any recurrence in the follow up period nearly 5 years after tumor removal and synovectomy. We will also discuss differential diagnosis and treatment according to updated literature.