Rapidly progressive Charcot arthropathy following minor joint trauma in patients with diabetic neuropathy

Neuropathic (Charcot) arthropathy is a slowly progressive, chronic, destructive form of joint degeneration seen in patients with a neurosensory deficit. Attempts to produce neuropathic joint disease experimentally with a variety of deafferentation procedures have generally been unsuccessful. However, if the knee is rendered unstable by anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT), breakdown of the joint occurs rapidly in dogs that have previously undergone dorsal root ganglionectomy (DRG) for deafferentation of the ipsilateral limb. In contrast, ACLT in neurologically intact dogs produces not only nonprogressive changes that are characteristic of mild osteoarthritis. This report describes 3 patients with longstanding insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in whom neuropathic arthropathy developed within weeks after minor trauma to the foot or ankle. In these patients, diabetic neuropathy served as the functional equivalent of dorsal root ganglionectomy, and the minor trauma served as the functional equivalent of ACLT. Together, they illustrate the phenomenon of neurogenic acceleration of joint degeneration in humans.