PAINFUL PERIARTICULAR CALCIFICATIONS AT WRIST AND ELBOW: DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT

Painful periarticular calcifications about the wrist and elbow joints produce a disability commensurate with the shoulder syndrome due to calcific tendinitis or bursitis. Clinical and roentgenologic recognition of calcareous deposits about the wrist and elbow are also important, because these conditions are so disabling, yet so amenable to treatment. The so-called subacromial calcific bursitis or tendinitis has been frequently reported in the literature in recent years, and its various methods of treatment are so well known as not to merit further discussion in this communication. Similarly, there have been numerous reports in the literature of calcific deposits in the soft tissues about the hip joint; however, there have been few references to calcific periarticular tendinitis involving the wrist and elbow joints.1We are reporting a series of 11 cases that illustrate the types of involvement of the soft tissues about the wrist and elbow, with special emphasis on the early