Synovial chondrometaplasia in five dogs.

Synovial chondrometaplasia was diagnosed in 5 dogs. Four dogs improved dramatically after surgical removal of subsynovial nodules, but the fifth improved only slightly. This potentially treatable condition is recognized in human beings, and has been described in dogs in the German scientific literature. Synovial chondrometaplasia should be suspected if numerous joint mice are visualized radiographically, without an obvious inciting cause. It also should be suspected when periarticular osteophytes are found radiographically in unusual locations.