the charcot knee arthropaty: the diagnostic and surgical challenge. a case of syphilis arthropaty and a review of literature

The charcot knee is a progressive, degenerative disease of the joint that may represent a diagnostic challenge; atthe moment, poorly controlled diabetes mellitus is the main cause of this condition. we describe here a case of a manpresenting with an end stage joint arthropathy who was diagnosed with neurosyphilis. tabetic arthropathy is currentlya very rare disease, but in the past represented the main cause of joint arthropathy. finally, we discussed the differentsurgical options of charcot arthropathy, our choice of megaprosthesis implant and the failure of such procedure mainlydue to patient’s unreliability to care leading to infective complications and peri-prosthesis fracture.