Synovial chondromatosis presenting with peripheral nerve compression--a report of two cases

We report two cases of synovial chondromatosis presenting with peripheral nerve compression syndromes involving respectively the median nerve at the wrist and the posterior interosseous nerve at the elbow. Only one previous instance of nerve compression due to this condition has been described, involving the ulnar nerve at the elbow. In one of our cases the disease process was at an early stage in its natural history and in the other at an advanced stage. The occurrence of nerve compression was related to the site rather than the stage of the disease. Full recovery followed local excision with decompression of the peripheral nerve involved.