TUBERCULOUS DACTYLITIS IN THE ADULT

Abstract

TUBERCULOUS dactylitis in the adult is generally uncommon and its appearance rather rare. Although the practicing orthopedist and the busy pathologist can recall having seen a case or two of the condition in the adult, the literature, especially in North America, contains only scattered reports of cases. Furthermore, our conception of this lesion as described in the textbooks and more important works on tuberculosis is that of tuberculous dactylitis in childhood. Tuberculous dactylitis or spina yentosa is usually a disease of infancy and childhood. Herzfeld and Tod 1 found 97 cases of the condition in 1,403 tuberculous children, thus representing 6 per cent of all cases of surgical tuberculosis. Sorrel and Sorrel-Dejerine, 2 in a larger sampling, reported an incidence of 14 per cent. In both series the disease became increasingly uncommon after 5 and scarce after 10 years of age. No statistics on the incidence of adult spina ventosa