CASE REPORT
Retained Foreign Body in a Diabetic Patient’s Hand
Frank Liaw1, *, Odhrán Murray1, Yan Yu Tan2, Timothy Hems1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2018Volume: 12
First Page: 203
Last Page: 207
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-12-203
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001812010203
Article History:
Received Date: 26/3/2018Revision Received Date: 24/5/2018
Acceptance Date: 28/5/2018
Electronic publication date: 14/6/2018
Collection year: 2018
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Diabetic peripheral neuropathy puts patients at increased risk of acute injury by foreign bodies and also contributes to delayed presentation and diagnosis.
Case report:
We describe a 57-year-old patient with poorly controlled type 1 diabetes who presented with a three-week history of worsening swelling and erythema in the metacarpophalangeal joint of his left thumb. He denied any previous trauma or injury and was initially treated with intravenous antibiotics. Subsequent imaging revealed septic arthritis and osteomyelitis secondary to a retained foreign body, which was surgically removed in theatre.
Conclusion:
This is the first reported case of a retained foreign body in the hand of a diabetic patient, and demonstrates the importance of early radiological imaging of peripheral limb injuries in high-risk patients.