Un cas d’arthropathie tabétique, pathologie méconnue.

Tabetic arthropathy is a destructive neurogenis affection, currently rare thanks to the early treatment of syphilis with penicillin G. The germ in question is Treponema pallidum. The diagnosis is evoked in the face of the discrepancy between the importance of joint damage and the absence of pain and confirmed by the positivation of syphilitic serologies. Observation: 58-year-old patient, with a history of a syphilitic chancre twice, consulting for chronic pain in the left knee with arthritis. Knee radiography showed destruction of the internal tibial acetabulum and CT scan of the same limb revealed lesions of osteolysis of the two tibial plates and tibial spines with detachment of bone fragments. The diagnosis was confirmed by the positivation of syphilitic serologies in the blood and the CSF. The evolution was marked by the patient’s death from sepsis following a nosocomial infection. Conclusion: Even if it has become exceptional, tabetic arthropathy should not be overlooked. Its treatment is based on penicillin G intravenously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]