Three Cases of Bursal Osteochodromatosis around the Shoulder Joint

Abstract

We wish to present 3 cases of bursal osteochondromatosis around the shoulder joint, two in the subacromial bursa and one in the subscapularis bursa.
(Case 1) A 54-year-old-male complained of bilateral shoulder joint pain and visited our clinic on May 10,1996. Roentgenograms showed calcifications below the acromion and osteophytes at the undersurface of the acromion and on the greater tuberosity. Arthrography revealed a joint-side cuff tear in the right shoulder joint. We removed 6 loose bodies from the right subacromial bursa on January 13,1996.
(Case 2) A 51-year-old-male suddenly developed pain and weakness of the left shoulder and visited our clinic on March 30,1996. Roentgenograms showed calcifications below the acromion and an osteophyte at the undersurface of the acromion. MRIs revealed a complete rotator cuff tear in the left shoulder. We removed 3 loose bodies from the subacromial bursa and 8 from the subcoracoid bursa on January 13,1997.
(Case 3) A 29-year-old-male came to us in 1997 with right shoulder pain and instability. He had fallen down skiing in 1987 and had had a total of 30 subluxations of the right shoulder since. Roentgenograms showed calcifications below the coracoid process. We performed a Bankart's repair for the recurrent subluxation and removed 8 loose bodies from the subscapularis bursa on April 8. Light microscopy of the removed loose bodies revealed ring-like calcifications in Case 1 and lamellar bone and cartilage in Cases 2 and 3. No metaplastic chondrocytes were noted in the synovium. These results support our diagnosis of secondary osteochondromatosis in all 3 cases.