What it is
Infection of the skin, deep tissues, joint or tendon sheath after a wound, bite or blood-borne spread. Infectious flexor tenosynovitis is a hand emergency.
Typical clinical symptoms
- Increasing redness, warmth, swelling and pain
- A finger held flexed with severe pain on passive extension
- Tenderness along the flexor tendon sheath
- Fever, wound discharge, red streaking or feeling systemically unwell
Video
No video has been added for this condition yet.
Scientific literature
External publications selected for this topic. Their scope may cover a specific condition, population or intervention within this topic; they do not constitute an individual treatment plan.
A systematic review of the management of acute pyogenic flexor tenosynovitis.
Systematic review / meta-analysis · 2015
Wrist & Hand
When is medical assessment needed?
Deformity after trauma, a finger that cannot actively bend or straighten, progressive loss of sensation or strength, a cold or pulseless hand, an open wound, and redness with fever require prompt medical assessment.
Descriptions are for orientation. Diagnosis follows history, clinical examination and, only when indicated, imaging or laboratory tests.
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