VASCULAR CALCIFICATIONS ADJACENT TO THE INVOLVED JOINT OF PATIENTS DIAGNOSED WITH CALCIUM PYROPHOSPHATE CRYSTAL ARTHRITIS – A RETROSPECTIVE OBSERVATIONAL STUDY
Abstract: 1825
Authors: Brikman S et al.
Key content:
Prior studies have shown an association between chondrocalcinosis (CC) and vascular calcifications. In this study, the authors aimed to assess the presence of vascular calcifications adjacent to the involved joint seen on plain X-ray radiographs (XR) of patients diagnosed with calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease arthritis (CPPD).
A retrospective analysis was conducted assessing joint radiographs (knee, wrist) of patients with CPPD with at least one previous acute synovitis with synovial fluid CPP crystals and/or CC and no other
rheumatological inflammatory disease. A review of XR for vascular calcifications adjacent to the involved joint was performed by 2 independent observers. As control served a random sample of patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and no CC, matched for age and gender (1:1).
73 patients were included in the CPP crystal arthritis group and 73 patients in the control group. Vascular calcifications adjacent to the involved joint were seen in 52 patients in the CPP group and only in 13 patients in the control group (71.2% vs 17.8% respectively).
Relevance:
Vascular calcifications seen on XR adjacent to the involved joint were detected at a significantly higher frequency in patients with CPP crystal arthritis than in patients with OA. There are few data whether CPPD, like gout, is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and vice versa whether patients with cardiovascular disease have more CPPD. There was recently an interesting paper which showed that acute CPP crystal arthritis was significantly associated with elevated short and long-term risk for non-fatal CV events (Tedeschi A et al., Ann Rheum Dis 2022;81:1323 ff).
