[Chondrocalcinosis].

Chondrocalcinosis is an arthropathy caused by deposits of calcium pyrophosphate-dihydrate microcrystals (CPPD) in the joints and occasionally in the tendons and ligaments. In our region it is almost always seen in its sporadic form in elderly subjects. The patients can be without symptoms or present four different clinical entities: an acute arthritis which can resemble and even be mistaken for an attack of gout or a septic arthritis; an inflammatory polyarthritis suggesting a rheumatoid arthritis; most frequently it appears as a benign polyarthrosis; sometimes it runs a destructive course capable of seriously damaging one or several joints. In certain cases chondrocalcinosis is associated with another metabolic disease. Familial forms have been described in some countries. Factors which induce the formation of the deposits of CPPD in the articular cartilages, fibrocartilages, the synovium and occasionally in the tendons and ligaments remain obscure. In contrast to urate gout, chondrocalcinosis appears to be due to a disturbance of pyrophosphate metabolism localized almost exclusively in the articular region. Its association with polyarthrosis rather frequently leads to destructive arthropathies. No etiological treatment for chondrocalcinosis exists at the present time. Therapy is limited to the administration of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs and physiotherapy.