Clinical Experience o f Destroyed Joints in Lower Extremities

We will present three patients whose gaits were disturbed by destroyed joints in their lower extremities.There was one case of rheumatoid arthritis of the mutilans type, whose radiographic findings were similar to those of Charcot's joint, The othere two case had Charcot's Joints with destruction of the ankle joint caused by diabetic mellitus in one and destruction of the knee joint by spondyloschisis in the other.We performed intravenous digital subtraction angiographies (IV-DSA) of both lower extremities on all three cases. The angiografic findings of the two Charcot's joints showed an abnormally rapid venous filling and a tumor-stain-like shadow. In contrast to Charcot's joint, the mutilans RA showed no angiographic abnomalities.We conclude that an angiographic evaluation is valuable in the diagnosis of Charcot's joint.