Case Reports
Atypical Presentation of Soft-Tissue Mass With Gonococcal Infection in the Hand
Am J Orthop. 2008 January;37(1):E14-E15
Author and Disclosure Information
Donald W. Hurst, MD, Michael A. Thompson, MD, and Eric P. Hofmeister, MD
LT Hurst, MC, USN, is the General Medical Officer, Marine Air Logistics Squadron 39, Camp Pendleton, California.
CAPT Thompson, MC, USNR, is a staff Orthopaedic Hand Surgeon and Director of Orthopaedic Residency Education, and CDR Hofmeister, MC, USN, is Director, Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Division, and Orthopaedic Intern Director, Naval Medical
Center San Diego, San Diego, California.
Abstract not available. Introduction provided instead.
Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection is a common sexually transmitted disease (STD) that may cause a disseminated infection. Some patients with disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI) have tenosynovitis as its only manifestation, most often involving the extensor tendons of the hand, wrist, or ankle.1 The typical presentation of DGI is fever, chills, and generalized malaise, but symptomatic genital infection is uncommon in both males and females.2 DGI occurs in 0.1% to 0.3% of patients infected with N gonorrhoeae,3 and approximately two thirds of patients with DGI develop tenosynovitis.4 We present an unusual case of gonococcal flexor tenosynovitis presenting as a soft-tissue mass.