Ann Rheum Dis: first published as 10.1136/ard.44.5.336 on 1 May 1985. Downloaded from

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 1985; 44, 336-340

Case report Rheumatoid extending into the clavicle and to the skin surface

LAWRENCE W BASSETT,' RICHARD H GOLD,' AND JOSEPH M MIRRA2 From the 'Department of Radiological Sciences, and the 2Department of Pathology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90024

SUMMARY A woman with rheumatoid developed persistent sterile drainage from a cutaneous fistula after biopsy of an inflamed supraclavicular mass. Radiographs showed several cavities in the underlying clavicle. Inability to culture a pathogen and failure of the fistula to heal despite empirical courses of therapy led to surgical intervention. The final diagnosis, based on careful histological analysis by special staining techniques, was rheumatoid bursitis extending into the clavicle and to the skin surface. Key words: fistula, sterile drainage, rheumatoid fistulisation.

Persistent cutaneous drainage in patients with fistula with the intraosseous cavities, partial fillingcopyright. is most often due to septic by the contrast agent of soft-tissue cavities between arthritis. However, cases of sterile fistulae with the clavicle and the coracoid process (Fig. IB), but cutaneous drainage have also been reported in no communication with the acromioclavicular or patients with rheumatoid arthritis.'-3 Bywaters' glenohumeral . attributed such 'fistulous ' to the foreign An excisional biopsy of the and body effect of necrotic bone and rheumatoid was performed. The preoperative diagnosis was granulation tissue on the articular and para-articular osteomyelitis of the right clavicle in association with http://ard.bmj.com/ soft tissues. soft-tissue abscesses. Surgical exploration showed that the entire distal third of the clavicle was Case report enveloped by an inflammatory process. Although A 38-year-old woman had rheumatoid arthritis for the acromioclavicular was not involved, a large 22 years, primarily involving her hands, elbows, mass of inflamed tissue surrounded the coracoid shoulders, and ankles. She had been treated for two process. The involved portions of the clavicle and years with Imuran (75 mg daily) and prednisone (1 adjacent soft tissues were excised, and bacteriologi- mg and 5 mg on alternate days) when in June 1982 cal and fungal cultures of the excised tissue were on September 30, 2021 by guest. Protected she underwent biopsy of a right supraclavicular initiated. nodule, which proved to be a sterile inflammatory Histological sections of the surgical specimen mass. The biopsy site healed except for a cutaneous showed a large bursa with finger-like extensions fistula from which sterile fluid continuously drained penetrating the clavicle (Fig. 2A). The bursal wall despite trials of varied . Plain radiographs consisted of dense fibrous connective tissue infil- in November 1982 disclosed several contiguous, trated by moderate numbers of lymphocytes and well-circumscribed foci of destruction within the plasma cells and containing some lymph follicles. distal third of the right clavicle and along the The lining of the bursa consisted of hyperplastic superior surface of the coracoid process (Fig. IA), synovium (Fig. 2B). No polymorphonuclear leuco- without sequestra or periosteal new bone. A sino- cytes were identified. The bursal lumen contained gram showed communication of the cutaneous foci of intensely pink granular material surrounded by abundant multinucleate foreign-body giant cells Accepted for publication 3 Dccember 1984. and Correspondence to Dr L W Bassett. Dcpartmcnt of Radiological mononuclear histiocytes. The material within Sciences. UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles. California the bursa bore no resemblance in either hue or 9(X)24. morphology to the centre of a rheumatoid granu- 336 Ann Rheum Dis: first published as 10.1136/ard.44.5.336 on 1 May 1985. Downloaded from

Rheumatoid bursitis extending into the clavicle and to the skin surface 337

Fig. 1 A. Anteroposterior radiograph ofright clavicle. Distal third contains multiple cyst-like rarefactions and localised cortical erosions ofundersurface. Notch- like defect (arrowhead) is present Fig. lA in the superior surface ofthe coracoid process. B. Sinogram of right supraclavicular cutaneous fistula. Contrast agent enters

cavities in clavicle, then flows into copyright. irregularly outlined cavities in soft tissue lateral to the coracoid process, andfinally into smoothly marginated subcoracoid bursa. http://ard.bmj.com/ on September 30, 2021 by guest. Protected

Fig. lB loma; the histiocytes were not aligned in the ity of the substance did not support this supposition. picket-fence arrangement characteristic of a However, a positive reaction to phosphotungstic rheumatoid granuloma, nor were the large number acid-haematoxylin stain implied that the debris of foreign-body giant cells consistent with that consisted predominantly of fibrin or fibrinoid. Fib- diagnosis. Amyloid was considered because of the rin or fibrinoid has in the experience of several surrounding histiocytic reaction. However, negative UCLA staff pathologists, on very rare occasions, birefringence with Congo red, negative crystal been associated with an unusual histiocytic foreign violet stains, and the intense pink hue and granular- body-like response. Material identical to that Ann Rheum Dis: first published as 10.1136/ard.44.5.336 on 1 May 1985. Downloaded from

338 Bassett, Gold, Mirra

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- V copyright. http://ard.bmj.com/ Fig. 2 Histology. A. Low-power view ofportion of resected distal end of clavicle shows foci of attenuated cortical bone (A), central ridges of bone (B), and masses offibrous tissue (C) enveloping central lumina (D), some of which contain granular deposits of fibrin. (Haematoxylin and eosin stain, x10). B. Medium-power view discloses hyperplastic synovium (arrow) liningfibrous wall ofintraosseous cavity, implying that cavity is bursal extension. The wall is rich in lymphocytes and plasma cells and does not contain polymorphonuclear leucocytes. Identicalfindings were associated with soft-tissue cavities (H and E stain, x 125). C. Medium-power view shows intensely eosinophilic fibrin (A) in the centre ofbursal extension. Fibrin has apparently stimulated surrounding inflammatory response consisting ofnumerous

mono- and multinucleate histiocytes (arrows) and chronic inflammatory cells. Findings in soft tissue were identical (H on September 30, 2021 by guest. Protected and E stain, x 125). comprising the bursa, including its lining synovial containing fragments of necrotic bone and cartilage cells and contents of granular fibrinoid, was also were found adjacent to involved joints in the hands found within the cavitary lesion in the clavicle and feet.' In both cases the clinical picture was (Fig. 2C). The final pathologic diagnosis was, typical of acute suppurative arthritis, with intense therefore, rheumatoid bursitis with finger-like bur- , swelling, fever, and leucocytosis, and in both sal extensions invading bone, without histological cases the fistulous tracts were preceded by evidence to support . The absence of cutaneous nodules. Although Staphylococcus infection was corroborated by several negative pyogenes was sporadically cultured from the fistu- cultures from both drainage and excised tissue. lous tracts, the absence of organisms in unbroken abscesses and in adjacent joints led Bywaters to Discussion believe that they represented secondary invaders from the skin surface. He attributed the fistulae to Bywaters reported two cases of rheumatoid arthritis the foreign-body effect of fragmented subchondral in which multiple abscesses and cutaneous fistulae necrotic bone together with rheumatoid granulation Ann Rheum Dis: first published as 10.1136/ard.44.5.336 on 1 May 1985. Downloaded from

Rheumatoid bursitis extending into the clavicle and to the skin surface 339 copyright. http://ard.bmj.com/ tissue upon the articular and para-articular soft The cutaneous fistula did not arise spontaneously tissues. Rosin and Toghill reported similar cases of but was initiated by the biopsy of a supraclavicular cutaneous fistulous rheumatism in the hands and mass. The clinical picture ultimately resembled a feet of an elderly woman with chronic rheumatoid chronic infection such as tuberculosis, in association arthritis.2 Shapiro reported eight cases of rheuma- with rheumatoid arthritis. Surgical intervention toid arthritis with cutaneous fistulae, three showed followed repeated failures to either culture a on September 30, 2021 by guest. Protected the identical metatarsophalangeal changes described pathogen or improve the condition with courses of by Bywaters, three showed cutaneous fistulisation of antibiotic therapy. The final diagnosis was contin- other joints (one hip, one elbow, and two total gent upon careful histological analysis by special replacements) in association with , staining techniques and pathoradiological correla- and one showed cutaneous drainage of sterile clear tion. We are uncertain as to the possible role of the fluid from a dissecting popliteal cyst.3 fibrinoid substance in the pathogenesis of the We believe that this is the first report of a sterile fistulous tract. cutaneous rheumatoid fistula in the absence of neighbouring joint disease. The histological sections References revealed that the source of the fistula was an 1 Bywaters E G L. Fistulous rheumatism. A manifestation of inflamed bursa (Fig. 2) which had eroded into the rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis 1954; 12: 114. clavicle (Fig. 1A). The appearance of the bursa in 2 Rosin A J, Toghill P J. Fistulous rheumatism. An unusual the sinogram was most consistent with an incom- complication of rheumatoid arthritis. Postgrad Med J 1963; 39: 96. pletely opacified subcoracoid bursa (Fig. 1B). Addi- 3 Shapiro R F, Resnick D, Castles J J, et al. Fistulization of tional fistulae extended from the bursa to the rheumatoid joints. Spectrum of identifiable syndromes. Ann adjacent soft tissues and to cavities in the clavicle. Rheum Dis 1975; 34: 489. Ann Rheum Dis: first published as 10.1136/ard.44.5.336 on 1 May 1985. Downloaded from

340 Bassett, Gold, Mirra

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