Hypomagnesemia and chondrocalcinosis in short bowel syndrome.

Chondrocalcinosis is a result of deposition of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate (CPPD) crystals in cartilage and fibrocartilage. Chondrocalcinosis is usually sporadic but has also been associated with a variety of metabolic diseases including hypomagnesemia. Reported cases of hypomagnesemia associated chondrocalcinosis were mostly due to renal genetic disorders such as Bartter's or Gitelman's syndrome. We describe 3 patients with chronic hypomagnesemia induced by short bowel syndrome who developed symptomatic chondrocalcinosis. CPPD crystals were identified by polarizing light microscopy in one patient. The underlying intestinal pathology was radiation enteritis in 2 patients and mesenteric arterial thrombosis in the third. Our observations strengthen the hypothesis of a role for magnesium in CPPD crystal deposition disease.