Multiple loose bodies: formation, revascularization, and resorption. A 29-year followup study.

A 45-year-old patient sustained a traumatic dislocation of 1 hip. During a 29-year period, 10 to 13 multiple calcified loose bodies developed slowly in the hip. These first grew in size and became very radiodense, but later showed progressively less radiodensity. Progressive osteoarthritis of the hip was the indication for hip arthrotomy. The loose bodies had become reattached to the synovial surface of the hip joint and were revascularized, having converted from calcified cartilage to bone. This case dramatically shows the body's mechanism for attempting to remove loose bodies from joints.