SYNOVIAL LESIONS OF THE ANKLE

The ankle is a typical synovial joint. It is affected by systemic as w ell as locally limited synovial processes. Looking at oligo- and polya rticular diseases it is affected by Reiter's Syndrome and Rheumatoid A rthritis in young patients. In middle aged people Crystal Synovitides dominate the picture and in old age Gout and tumorous lesions are seen . Looking at monarticular inflammatory processes one has to think of t uberculosis first. Crystal-induced monarthropathies such as hemochroma tosis can also start at the ankle. In this review we describe the poss ible inflammatory diseases of the talocrural joint and present a diagn ostic algorithm.