{"title":"Is calcification integral to enthesopathy and tendinopathy rather than a separate disease process?","authors":"Amin Razi , David Ring","doi":"10.1016/j.jor.2024.12.011","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>The pathophysiology of enthesopathy and tendinopathy is mucoid degeneration, which includes chondroid metaplasia. The chondroid metaplasia can be associated with calcification. Inflammation is typically absent unless calcification triggers a self-limited immune response representing acute calcific tendinitis. It is therefore important to address the hypothesis that calcific deposits within various entheses and tendons throughout the body are an inconsequential epiphenomenon of enthesopathy and tendinopathy and do not merit a distinct diagnosis or specific treatment.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science for studies that address the prevalence of calcium in tendons and entheses with or without symptoms of tendinopathy, specifically excluding likely acute calcific tendinitis, and analyzed 35 studies meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria. Response variables included prevalence of calcification in and enthesis or tendon among people with no symptoms, among people seeking care for symptoms, and in the opposite asymptomatic limb, and the association between calcification and rotator cuff degeneration.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Calcification of tendons and entheses was present on between 2.7 % and 8.6 % of radiographs of the shoulder, elbow, and ankle among people without symptoms and not seeking care, with higher percentages in older populations. Calcification was common among patients with symptoms: 44 % for rotator cuff tendinopathy, 25 % for enthesopathy of the origin of the extensor carpi radialis brevis, and 53 % for medial elbow enthesopathy. Most people with calcification had it bilaterally. Among people with calcification of the rotator cuff on MRI, nearly all of them (96 %) had tendon degeneration.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>The collective evidence regarding calcification in tendons and entheses suggests that it is related to mucoid degeneration and is not a separate disease process. Acute calcific tendinitis rapidly runs its course and is treated only to alleviate symptoms. It's not clear that acute calcific tendinitis or rotator cuff tendinopathy with calcification benefit from specific treatment of the calcium deposits.</div></div><div><h3>Level of evidence</h3><div>Not applicable.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":16633,"journal":{"name":"Journal of orthopaedics","volume":"65 ","pages":"Pages 46-50"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of orthopaedics","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0972978X24004392","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ORTHOPEDICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background
The pathophysiology of enthesopathy and tendinopathy is mucoid degeneration, which includes chondroid metaplasia. The chondroid metaplasia can be associated with calcification. Inflammation is typically absent unless calcification triggers a self-limited immune response representing acute calcific tendinitis. It is therefore important to address the hypothesis that calcific deposits within various entheses and tendons throughout the body are an inconsequential epiphenomenon of enthesopathy and tendinopathy and do not merit a distinct diagnosis or specific treatment.
Methods
We searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science for studies that address the prevalence of calcium in tendons and entheses with or without symptoms of tendinopathy, specifically excluding likely acute calcific tendinitis, and analyzed 35 studies meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria. Response variables included prevalence of calcification in and enthesis or tendon among people with no symptoms, among people seeking care for symptoms, and in the opposite asymptomatic limb, and the association between calcification and rotator cuff degeneration.
Results
Calcification of tendons and entheses was present on between 2.7 % and 8.6 % of radiographs of the shoulder, elbow, and ankle among people without symptoms and not seeking care, with higher percentages in older populations. Calcification was common among patients with symptoms: 44 % for rotator cuff tendinopathy, 25 % for enthesopathy of the origin of the extensor carpi radialis brevis, and 53 % for medial elbow enthesopathy. Most people with calcification had it bilaterally. Among people with calcification of the rotator cuff on MRI, nearly all of them (96 %) had tendon degeneration.
Conclusions
The collective evidence regarding calcification in tendons and entheses suggests that it is related to mucoid degeneration and is not a separate disease process. Acute calcific tendinitis rapidly runs its course and is treated only to alleviate symptoms. It's not clear that acute calcific tendinitis or rotator cuff tendinopathy with calcification benefit from specific treatment of the calcium deposits.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Orthopaedics aims to be a leading journal in orthopaedics and contribute towards the improvement of quality of orthopedic health care. The journal publishes original research work and review articles related to different aspects of orthopaedics including Arthroplasty, Arthroscopy, Sports Medicine, Trauma, Spine and Spinal deformities, Pediatric orthopaedics, limb reconstruction procedures, hand surgery, and orthopaedic oncology. It also publishes articles on continuing education, health-related information, case reports and letters to the editor. It is requested to note that the journal has an international readership and all submissions should be aimed at specifying something about the setting in which the work was conducted. Authors must also provide any specific reasons for the research and also provide an elaborate description of the results.