Tubercular dactylitis of left middle finger: A case report

Author(s): Dr. Channappa TS, Dr. Shivakumar HB, Dr. Manju Jayaram, Dr. Yatish R and Dr. BM Bharath Gowda

Abstract: Tuberculous dactylitis is a rare condition. It usually involves bones of hands and feet, predominantly seen in children. The condition is characterized by cystic expansion of the bone due to filing of the medullary cavity with the granulation tissue leading to formation of pus and thinning of cortex. The term spina ventosa is used to describe this condition radiologically. We report a rare case of tuberculous dactylitis of left middle finger in a 15 yrs. old female patient who presented with complaints of swelling at the middle phalanx of the left middle finger. Swelling had an insidious onset and gradually progressed in size over a period of 3 months. Patient gave history of unexplained weight loss since 1 month. Plain x-ray of hand showed lytic lesion of middle phalanx and MRI was done which showed altered marrow intensity changes with erosions in the middle phalanx of 3^rd digit with periosseous synovial enhancing thickening and flexor digitorum tenosynovitis-likely infective etiology-suggestive of tuberculosis hence patient was treated with curettage, allograft and stabilization with JESS (Joshi’s external stabilizing system).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22271/ortho.2023.v9.i2b.3366