Shoulder erosions in renal osteodystrophy.

The radiographic manifestations of renal osteodystrophy may be articular as well as osseous. The latter are well recognized, i.e., subperiosteal and subchondral bony resorption. Recently attention has been directed to the occurrence of an erosive arthritis of the hands and wrists in hyperparathyroidism. The authors present six patients with humeral head erosions, all of whom were on chronic long-term hemodialysis. These intra-articular erosions occurred at the "bare" area of the humeral head and thus represent an erosive arthritis and therefore can be distinguished from the usual sites of subchondral and subperiosteal bony resorption seen in hyperparathyroidism.