title: Spinal changes in idiopathic chondrocalcinosis articularis.
abstract: The lumbar-spine radiographs of 67 patients with idiopathic chondrocalcinosis articularis were reviewed for disc calcification and other changes. Calcification was present in 21 (31%) of the patients, seen most frequently at the L 2-3 disc space. The 21 patients as a group were significantly older than the 46 patients without disc calcification, and also had a much higher incidence of chondrocalcinosis in peripheral joints. There was no association with back pain or spinal stiffness. The 21 patients with disc calcification included six patients with a destructive peripheral arthropathy, and three of them had destructive changes affecting the lumbar spine. Three patients with a destructive peripheral arthropathy were also included in the group without disc calcification, and one of these had a destructive arthritis of the lumbar spine. For comparison, there was a 55% incidence of spinal chondrocalcinosis in nine patients with primary hyperparathyroidism and peripheral joint chondrocalcinosis, and a 6% incidence in 100 anteroposterior lumbar spine radiograph 'controls', taken before intravenous urography, although in this latter group the changes were minimal and confined to the margin of a single disc in each case.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002805:Chondrocalcinosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D013122:Spinal Diseases / Q000150:complications