[Correlation between Dupuytren's disease and arcus senilis: is dyslipidemia a common etiopathological factor?]

Because of the frequent presence of corneal arcus senilis in patients affected by Dupuytren's disease in order to evaluate this association, the authors conducted a biomicroscopic examination of the cornea in 336 patients treated surgically for Dupuytren's disease, at the Hand Surgery Unit of the University of Modena from November 1985 to December 1989. They observed corneal arcus senilis in 259 patients, i.e. in 77.1% of patients with Dupuytren's disease. Due to the statistically significant correlation between arcus senilis and hyperlipidemia as reported by Tschetter (1980) and Felder (1981), the Authors collected a blood sample from all 336 patients to evaluate serum cholesterol and tryglicerides. This study revealed a dyslipidemia in 54.8% of patients with Dupuytren's disease and in 60.2% of patients suffering from both Dupuytren's disease and arcus senilis. Because of the high frequency of dislipidemia in patients with Dupuytren's disease and arcus senilis, which are apparently two well-distinguished disease, the authors suggest that a lipid disorder may be a common aetiopathogenic factor. In particular, in favour of the possible role of hyperlipidemia in Dupuytren's disease, Electron Microscope Studies revealed lipid inclusions within fibroblasts and in the extracellular connective tissue of all pathologic palmar aponeurosis from 11 patients with Dupuytren's disease: these lipid inclusions were never seen in the normal aponeurosis taken from 5 control patients treated for traumatic palmar injuries.