[Imaging diagnosis of synovial tuberculosis of sheath of wrist].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the imaging features of synovial tuberculosis of sheath of wrist.


METHODS
Three patients of synovial tuberculosis of sheath of wrist underwent surgical operation from Oct. 2002 to Oct. 2009 included 2 males and 1 female, the age of 48, 67, 76 years respectivly. X-rays of 3 patients, CTs of 2 patients and MRI of 1 patient were retrospectively analyzed and the relevant literature were reviewed.


RESULTS
There were 3 cases with the soft tissue mass in the palm side of wrist, the section was unclear. There were no osteoporosis and no changes of bone destruction. There was 1 case with the punctate calcification in the soft tissue. MRI showed the embedded cystic mass of flexor tendon and "8" shape in carpal tunnel pressure, and showed abnormal signal (T1 low-signal, T2 slightly higher signal), a small part of the internal point showed high signal. CT showed the synovial membrane were obvious thickening and enhanced, corpus liberum in tendon sheath were no obvious strengthening.


CONCLUSIONS
Synovial tuberculosis of sheath of wrist has certain characteristics on radiographic image. The MRI has more clinical value than X-ray and CT.
Chen
Pei-Yu
PY
Department of Radiology, the People's Hospital of Zhuji City, Zhuji 311800, Zhejiang, China.
Qiu
Lei-Yu
LY
Wang
Ye-Jun
YJ
Shi
Nai-Chang
NC
Xu
Jian
J
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013583:Synovial Membrane / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D014953:Wrist