Pseudogout provoked by pregnancy

Four women with chondrocalcinosis are described. Each developed acute attacks of synovitis during pregnancy (confirmed pseudogout, two; presumptive pseudogout, two). All patients had recognized predisposing factors (metabolic, familial, traumatic) for premature calcium pyrophosphate deposition, and in three this was their first episode of synovitis. This first report of provocation of pseudogout by pregnancy is of interest in respect of putative mechanisms of crystal shedding.