¿Qué hace una piedra dentro de un tendón?

Madrid, March 7 (efesalud.com). Traumatologist Isabel Guillén Vicente, a specialist at the CEMTRO Clinic, interrupts her workday to videoblog for efesalud about calcific tendonitis of the shoulder, a condition that is "frequent, very painful, especially at bedtime, and so distressing... that some patients come to the office crying." This degeneration of organic tissue substantially affects the supraspinatus tendon, responsible for "elevating the arm, especially when it rises above ninety degrees," she explains, which is why its victims include people who work repetitively with their hands, such as cooks, electricians, pianists, and cleaning ladies. The condition is so severe that "it even prevents them from performing such common tasks as opening a door, taking an item of clothing from a closet shelf, changing gears in a vehicle, or inserting a parking ticket," says Dr. Guillén. "Calcification is like a stone that gradually grows inside the tendon: repeated excessive pressure on it causes bleeding, which in turn forms calcium, a chemical element that thickens over time and ultimately triggers a process of penetrating pain, even more so when there is pressure on the acromioclavicular joint," she explains. In Isabel Guillén's opinion, it was a condition that the traumatologists "hadn't fully resolved" because rehabilitation didn't eliminate the stone, and the tactic based on acoustic shock waves to "traumatize the stone and break it down so the body could absorb it, in addition to being painful, was not reliable." The only solution, therefore, was surgery: "We opened the tendon, cleaned the calcified area, and closed the wound; but even then, we left a gap. And all in an operation in which it was difficult to identify the calcium." Currently, the stone is located under ultrasound guidance, the painful area is anesthetized, the calcification is punctured, and it is aspirated. When the calcium is very solidified, "we microtraumatize it so that it is reabsorbed by the body itself," she assures. This medical procedure is performed in twenty minutes, without the need for surgery, and the patient returns home with a smile and "practically pain-free," assures Dr. Isabel Guillén, who tells us that her patients, if that weren't enough, "go back to sleep at night." More videos and reports at http://www.efesalud.com/