[Arthropathies of the limbs in dialyzed renal failure patients].

During the last few years, articular symptoms have been reported in chronic renal failure patients on maintenance haemodialysis. A prospective study of arthropathies of the limbs was conducted in 73 such patients: 20 had experienced periarthritis, 32 had tendinous calcifications (3 or more in 16 cases), 29 had destructive arthropathies (especially of the hands) and 10 had calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate deposition. The periarthritis attacks were associated with the presence of tendinous calcifications. The destructive arthropathies could be due to calcium apatite microcrystal deposition, but the study provided no direct evidence of this mechanism. However, the pattern of erosive lesions, their location and their possible association with tendinous calcifications in the same joint were suggestive of calcium apatite deposition. Calcium pyrophosphate deposition, which affected the oldest patients, did not seem to be due to chronic renal failure treated with dialysis. The most important arthropathies were found in patients who had been haemodialysed for a long time, although the correlation was not statistically significant. The dialysis pattern did not seem to influence the articular disorders. There were more cases of calcification and periarthritis among patients whose phosphocalcium product (in mg) exceeded 6000, but the difference with other patients was not statistically significant. Periarthritis and arthropathies are truly disabling for these patients.