CALCIUM DEPOSITS IN THE SHOULDER AND SUBACROMIAL BURSITIS

Abstract

The title of this paper is purposely indefinite. It is intended to cover calcium deposits observed in the tendons of the four short rotator muscles of the shoulder and the inflammatory condition of the overlying serous bursa to which these deposits not infrequently give rise. That others have experienced difficulty in devising an appropriate label for this pathologic entity is well attested by the diversity of captions used by many who have written on the subject in the last two or three decades. It has been described as "periarticular calcifications,"¹"paraarticular calcifications,"²"subacromial" or "subdeltoid calcifications,"³"humeroscapular" or "scapulohumeral periarthritis,"⁴"para-arthritis,"⁵"Duplay's disease,"⁶"calcified bursitis,"⁷"calcic bursitis,"⁸"calcification of the subacromial bursa,"⁹"rheumatism" or "neuritis"¹⁰and "painful shoulder."¹¹ The fact remains that calcium deposits in the tendinous cuff which forms the capsule of the shoulder joint have for some