The significance of enthesopathy as a skeletal phenomenon

Enthesophytes and enthesopathy, while easy to define, represent a phenomenon of unclear clinical significance. As the high frequency in skeletal populations suggests that enthesopathy may not be disease-specific, the nature of the reaction was assessed in 872 individuals from a representative skeletal population, subdivided into groups characterized by the presence or absence of rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthropathy, calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease and disease idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH). Achilles, plantarfascia, patellar and iliac crest entheses were examined for evidence of calcific overgrowth or «erosions»