Calcium pyrophosphate arthropathy of the spine: case report and review of the literature

Neurosurgery. 1994 May;34(5):915-8; discussion 918. doi: 10.1227/00006123-199405000-00022.

Abstract

Calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease is a relatively uncommon arthropathy characterized by the clinical features of pseudogout, the radiographic manifestations of chondrocalcinosis, and the pathological deposition of calcium pyrophosphate crystals in both hyaline and fibrocartilage. Symptomatic involvement of the spine by calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease is rare except by nodular deposition in the ligamentum flavum and atlanto-occipital ligament. We report a 50-year-old woman who presented with an acute herniated disc syndrome secondary to an intraspinal inflammatory calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease mass at the level of the L4-L5 interspace. The magnetic resonance image and histopathological features of the case are also discussed.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Calcium Pyrophosphate / metabolism*
  • Chondrocalcinosis / pathology
  • Chondrocalcinosis / surgery*
  • Crystallization
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Intervertebral Disc Displacement / pathology
  • Intervertebral Disc Displacement / surgery*
  • Lumbar Vertebrae / pathology
  • Lumbar Vertebrae / surgery*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Microsurgery
  • Middle Aged
  • Nerve Compression Syndromes / pathology
  • Nerve Compression Syndromes / surgery*
  • Spinal Nerve Roots / pathology
  • Spinal Nerve Roots / surgery*
  • Synovial Cyst / pathology
  • Synovial Cyst / surgery
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Substances

  • Calcium Pyrophosphate