Abstract
1. LeÌri's pleonosteosis is characterised by broadening and deformity of the thumbs and great toes, flexion contracture of the interphalangeal joints, limited movement of other joints, and often a Mongoloid facies. Four such cases are described.
2. A review of the twenty reports in the literature, and the cases now described, shows that the deformities are due to capsular contracture rather than deformity of bone.
3. In one patient there was striking evidence of fibro-cartilaginous thickening of the anterior carpal ligaments. It is suggested that the primary pathological change in pleonosteosis may be in the joint capsules rather than in the epiphyses.
4. The patient with thickening of the anterior carpal ligaments had bilateral median palsy from carpal tunnel compression.
5. The causes of carpal tunnel compression of the median nerve are reviewed. Acute compression may be due not only to dislocation of the semilunar bone but to haemorrhage in the palm. Late compression by bone may occur twenty to fifty years after injury. Late compression without bone abnormality has been attributed to occupational stress, but it is suggested that pathological thickening of the anterior carpal ligament may be the cause.
6. The patient with pleonosteosis and bilateral median palsy had also bilateral Morton's metatarsalgia with large digital neuromata.
7. Plantar digital neuritis has already been shown to be an ischaemic nerve lesion preceded by degenerative changes in the digital artery. The significance of the fibrous tunnel through which the artery passes to reach the digital cleft is considered.
