Ossification of Soft Tissue and Periosteum Wheeless

Description: Discussion: - calcium hydroxyapatite can be deposited in periarticular soft tissues or within joints; - in either event the disease may be monoarticular or polyarticular; - periarticular disease affects men and women with equal frequency and occurs most commonly during the fifth to eighth decades; - intraarticular dz also affects adults, women more commonly than men; - crystals can be deposited within articular cartilage, the synovium, or joint capsule; - common location of periarticular crystal deposition is within tendons about the shoulder, and in this location the process is termed "calcifying tendinitis."