[Incidence of chondrocalcinosis in a series of 1,000 surgically excised intervertebral disks].

This study is based on the histological examination of a series of 1000 intervertebral discs which were excised surgically for a painful spinal or nerve root syndrome. The authors observed in 31 cases (18 men and 13 women) a chondrocalcinosis that was not found clinically (small circumscribed deposits of crystals identified as calcium pyrophosphate after examination in compensated polarized light microscopy). The frequency is higher than that of chondrocalcinosis observed in the menisci excised surgically from the knees of subjects with the same average age; but it is lower than that for the menisci taken from autopsy material of subjects with a higher average age. The histological examination of all surgically excised discs would permit the findings of signs of chondrocalcinosis, thus emphasizing the risk for the patient of a further evolution to arthropathies (spinal or peripheral). This can offer bases for statistical longitudinal studies.