Arthroscopic Treatment of Synovial Chondromatosis of the Shoulder Joint with Mini-open Procedure for the Lesions of Biceps Tendon Sheath

Synovial chondromatosis is an uncommon condition, and the involvement of the shoulder joint is rare. A 15 year old female patient presented to author's institution for right shoulder pain. We checked the plain radiographs and MRI. And they showed that a diagnosis of synovial chondromatosis in the shoulder, and they also demonstrated that the disease involved the bicipital tendon sheath as well as glenohumeral joint. We removed all loose bodies with total synovectomy by arthroscopic procedure, and a mini-open procedure for the lesions of biceps tendon sheath. Arthroscopic treatment affords excellent visualization of the shoulder joint with less morbidity. However, with current arthroscopic techniques, it is difficult to manage the synovial chondromatosis of biceps tendon in bicipital groove. The authors suggest that the complete elimination of synovial chondromatosis involving shoulder requires a mini-open procedure for the lesions of biceps tendon sheath in addition to the arthroscopic resection of the affected synovium and loose body removal in the glenohumeral joint.