Acute painful calcific tendonitis of the shoulder

A 39-year-old woman with diabetes presented with a history of disabling pain in the right shoulder for 5 days. She had pain and stiffness for last 8 months, which did not respond to physiotherapy and NSAIDs. The shoulder movements were significantly restricted and painful. A radiograph revealed a large radio-opaque shadow under the acromion process (figure 1A), suggestive of calcific tendonitis. It was confirmed with MRI (figure 1B). Arthroscopic decompression of the calcific deposit (‘chalky paste’ like) was done (figure 2A–E). It gave instantaneous and dramatic …