Ms. Moates Grace is an Orthopedic Surgery Staff Nurse and Lt Col (Ret) Letonoff is a Staff Orthopedic Surgeon, both at Gulf Coast Health Care System in Biloxi, Mississippi. Correspondence: Ms. Moates Grace (mmoatesrn@live.com)
Author disclosures The authors report no actual or potential conflicts of interest with regard to this article.
Disclaimer The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Federal Practitioner, Frontline Medical Communications Inc., the US Government, or any of its agencies. This article may discuss unlabeled or investigational use of certain drugs. Please review the complete prescribing information for specific drugs or drug combinations—including indications, contraindications, warnings, and adverse effects—before administering pharmacologic therapy to patients.
References
Unfortunately, osteoarthritis can be a significant long-term postoperative adverse effect.3,6-8 This typically is related to the amount of articular damage that is present at surgery. Many times, the arthritis becomes significant enough to require total joint arthroplasty.4 Close long-term follow-up is recommended, because although rare, there is a chance of malignant change.1-4
Conclusion
Synovial chondromatosis is an uncommon cause of knee pain and swelling and should be included in the differential diagnosis when evaluating any adult aged 30 years to 50 years with knee pain of insidious onset. Appropriate workup, intervention, and treatment will allow final diagnosis and correlating care to be administered to the patient.
