Year: 2026 | Month: August | Volume: 13 | Issue: 8 | Pages: 366-373
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20260835
Cartilage on the Move: Extra-Articular Synovial Chondromatosis (Reichel's Disease) of the Wrist - A Rare Case Report with Review of Literature
Adithi Rajeevan1, Madhuri G Naik2, Anubhav Chittari3, Sushmitha Ravi Kumar4, Tanu YM5
1Postgraduate, Department of General Surgery, Sapthagiri Institute of Medical Science & Research Centre, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
2Assistant Professor, Department of General Surgery, Sapthagiri Institute of Medical Science & Research Centre, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
3Assistant Professor, Department of General Surgery, Sapthagiri Institute of Medical Science & Research Centre, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
4Postgraduate, Department of General Surgery, Sapthagiri Institute of Medical Science & Research Centre, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
5Postgraduate, Department of General Surgery Sapthagiri Institute of Medical Science & Research Centre, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Corresponding Author: Adithi Rajeevan
ABSTRACT
Background: Extra-articular synovial chondromatosis (Reichel's disease) is a rare, benign metaplastic disorder of synovial tissue that produces cartilaginous, often calcified, nodules within tendon sheaths and bursae outside a joint capsule. It overwhelmingly favours the knee; involvement of the wrist is exceptional, with only a handful of cases described worldwide.
Case Presentation: A 58-year-old homemaker presented with a slow-growing swelling over the medial aspect of the left wrist of three years' duration, with pain on movement for the preceding eight months and no history of trauma. Examination revealed a firm, oval, 3.5 × 2.5 cm swelling fixed in the vertical plane and mobile transversely, with restricted wrist flexion. Radiographs showed a calcified soft-tissue swelling medial to the distal ulna without bony erosion. The lesion was excised under wrist block and was found adherent to the flexor carpi ulnaris tendon, extra-articular and extra-synovial in location. Histopathology confirmed hyaline cartilage tissue with chondrocytes and foci of bony trabeculae, consistent with extra-articular chondromatosis.
Conclusion: Extra-articular chondromatosis of the wrist is a diagnostic rarity that should be included in the differential of any peri-articular calcified soft-tissue swelling. A high index of suspicion, appropriate imaging, and complete surgical excision achieve cure and allow histopathology to exclude the principal — and rare — differential of synovial chondrosarcoma.
Keywords: Synovial chondromatosis; Reichel's disease; extra-articular; wrist swelling; tenosynovial chondromatosis; flexor carpi ulnaris; case report
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