Shoulder arthropathy in primary hyperparathyroidism.

An erosive arthropathy of the hands and wrists has been recognized in patients with primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism [3, 5]. Recently, intra-articular erosions of the humeral head were described in six patients who had been on chronic long-term hemodialysis with secondary hyperparathyroidism [1]. We would like to present the finding of shoulder erosions in four patients with primary hyperparathyroidism and one patient with renal osteodystrophy and suggest that the humeral erosion can occur in both an intra-articular and peri-articular location.