Open AccessUltrasonography for detecting a hog bristle in a finger: a case report and literature review
Author(s) -
Chao SuiYi,
Chern TaiChung,
Jou IMing,
Kuo YaoLung
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international wound journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.867
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1742-481X
pISSN - 1742-4801
DOI - 10.1111/iwj.12161
Subject(s) - medicine , foreign body , anatomy , interphalangeal joint , little finger , distal interphalangeal joint , emergency department , surgery , index finger , psychiatry
Dear Editors, A 62 year-old hog butcher had a sharp pain in his right little finger while he was removing the hair from a white hog 1 month ago. He immediately sought help at a nearby emergency department (ED). His finger was cleaned, but doctors found nothing in his finger at that time. Because of frequent painful swelling in his finger, he sought treatment at many clinics. However, surgical exploration for a cause was negative, and the pain and tenderness did not improve. He then came to our ED with a painfully swollen right little finger. A physical examination showed a local tender spot on the radial side of the distal interphalangeal joint. We suspected that the patient had a foreign body in his finger; hence an ultrasonographic investigation was performed by an experienced orthopaedics ultrasonologist (T.C.C.). To detect and localise the foreign body, the suspected area was scanned. A hyperechoic foreign body without posterior acoustic shadowing, surrounded by a hypoechoic halo of inflammation was identified in the axial (transverse to the foreign body) and oblique (longitudinal to the foreign body) directions (Figure 1, right panels: green arrows).