[Destructive arthropathy of the shoulder]

Destructive arthropathy of the shoulder consists of cartilaginous deterioration combined with subchondral osteolysis. The various diseases able to induce joint destruction (infection, neurological disease, chondrocalcinosis, tumour...) are excluded from this description which only concerns the forms with no obvious cause. Since the description of "senile haemorrhagic caries of the shoulder", several authors have reported, under various names, very similar diseases whose common denominator is destruction of the shoulder joint. The pathogenic factors remain unclear, but various theories have been proposed, involving mechanical factors secondary to lesions of the rotator cuff or suggesting the role of apatite microcrystals.