Vol.22 No.6

Case Report

Synovial xanthomatosis: are there clues to mechanisms for this rare disease?

Authors

H. Ralph Schumacher1,2 , Wassim G. Habre3 , Christopher Friedrich4 , Marie Sieck2 , Lan X. Chen5 , Gilda M. Clayburne2 , Joan M. Von Feldt1,2

  • Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
  • Rheumatology Research 151K, Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center, 3900 Woodland Ave., Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
  • Camden, NJ, USA
  • Cardiovascular Division, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
  • Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Received:

11 November 2011

Accepted:

6 January 2012

Published online:

10 February 2012

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Abstract

We report a 64-year-old man with arthritis and nodules to describe that this picture can be caused by normo-lipidemic xanthomas. Light and electron microscopy (EM) plus polymerase chain reaction (PCR) studies were performed for diagnosis and investigation. These showed features typical of xanthomas plus PCR and EM evidence of possible infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae as a pathogenetic mechanism deserving consideration. With such rare diseases, any clues to possible mechanisms seem important to record and thus to encourage future investigations. This uncommon cause of arthritis and nodules had been confused with rheumatoid arthritis by others in this case.

Key words

Tenosynovitis - Synovium - Xanthomas - Chlamydia - Nodules