• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.708-711
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• 2010

Purpose: The sheath of tendon is uncommon site of tuberculous involvement as compared to other parts of the body. Especially, tuberculous tenosynovitis affecting flexor tendon of the hand is a rare condition. In recent years, furthermore, the incidence of tuberculosis is increasing in our country. Tuberculous tenosynovitis is a chronic, slowly destructive disease, which is difficult to diagnosis before operation, but can be definitively diagnosed by the pathologic microscopic examination. Early detection and surgical excision combined with antituberculous medication is important. We report a rare case of tuberculous tenosynovitis of the flexor tendon of the hand. Method: A 12-year-old woman presented with a painless, nontender mass on palmar side between distal interphalangeal joint and proximal area of metacarpophalangeal joint of the left third finger. We had surgical excision of the involved flexor tendon sheath and studied histopathologically. Result: The histopathological findings were chronic granulomatous inflammation with caseating necrosis consistent with tuberculosis. We started antituberculous medication. Conclusion: Tuberculous tenosynovitis is a rare condition, especially involving on the flexor tendon of the hand. But because of increasing tendency of tuberculosis, it is important to differentiate it from other tumors of the hand.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.80-83
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• 2014

A 29-year-old man visited our clinic owing to a persistent swelling in the anterior part of the left elbow joint that began one year ago. Through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we observed tenosynovitis with multiple rice bodies, and so we performed an excisional biopsy and tenosynovectomy. Through pathology and culture tests, we identified tuberculosis in the tissue biopsy that we harvested intraoperatively. Following the anti-tuberculosis medication relieved the patient's symptoms without recurrence. Since tuberculosis of the elbow occurs only rarely, and the symptoms mimic those of rheumatoid synovitis or of non-specific chronic synovitis, early diagnosis and appropriate treatment are often delayed. The authors report this rare case of tuberculous tenosynovitis of the elbow with a review of the relevant literature.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.72 no.2
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• pp.191-196
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• 2012

While nontuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) infections are recently on the rise, arthritis caused by NTM is hardly reported in Korea. NTM arthritis has no distinctive clinical characteristics from chronic arthritis. Tuberculosis of the joint specifically produces similar clinical and pathologic presentations to NTM arthritis, so it is not easy to distinguish between them. We report a case of Mycobacterium intracellulare in an arthritis patient after trauma and surgical repair of the injury. At the beginning, the patient was diagnosed as tuberculous tenosynovitis through pathology without microbiologic evidence. The final diagnosis was made after subsequent recurrences for several years. The misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis led to irreversible joint destruction and functional impairment. NTM infection must be included in the differential diagnosis of chronic arthritis at the outset.