Blastomycotic extensor tenosynovitis of the hand: a case report

Excerpt

Blastomycosis is an uncommon fungal infection caused by the thermally dimorphic fungus Blastomyces dermatitidis [12]. Infections in humans are primarily pulmonary in nature, but disseminated infection can occur. After lung and skin, the bone is the third most common site of infection. The most common musculoskeletal manifestations of the disease process include osteomyelitis or a monoarticular or polyarticular septic arthritis [1, 5, 6, 13, 16]. Blastomycotic infections involving the hand can be seen in the setting of multiple osseous lesions, but isolated lesions of the hand are relatively rare [5‐7, 9, 13, 14, 16]. To the best of our knowledge, there has only been one other report of blastomycotic infection causing tenosynovitis and no reported cases involving the extensor tendons [8]. We present a case of an immunocompetent male with recurrent extensor tenosynovitis that ultimately proved to be a blastomycotic infection. …