Wrist synovial chondromatosis: case report and literature review

Primary synovial chondromatosis is a proliferation of cartilaginous bodies within the synovial membrane, tendon sheath or bursa. It is a rare orthopaedic entity especially when it occurs in the distal radioulnar joint. We report a 27-year-old man with recurrent synovial chondromatosis, nine years after his first operation. Although rare, synovial chondromatosis must be considered in the differential diagnosis in a patient with pain and swelling of the distal radioulnar joint. From our literature review, we report a 17% (5/30) recurrence rate for synovial chondromatosis involving the wrist joint which has not been documented in the medical literature previously.