Definition
Dactylitis is an inflammatory process that causes the "sausage-like" swelling of one or more fingers and / or toes.
Inflammation occurs, in particular, with a homogeneous swelling of the affected fingers, attributable to the simultaneous involvement of the flexor tendons (tendinitis and enthesitis) and synovitis of the proximal interphalangeal joints.
The extension of inflammation to periarticular structures and lymphatic edema can induce, at the same time, redness, pain and difficulty in using the fingers.
Dactylitis is one of the main symptoms of psoriatic arthritis, a chronic rheumatic disease associated with psoriasis, which affects the joints of the hands and feet with particular frequency. In this context, inflammation shows a characteristic axial distribution, therefore it involves all the joints of the same finger, sparing the other extremities.
Other causes of dactylitis include sickle cell anemia, ankylosing spondylitis, tuberculosis and Reiter's syndrome. This symptom is also found in cases of bone infarcts, infections with Treponema pallidum or Streptococcus, leprosy, syphilis, gonococcal arthritis and sarcoidosis.
Possible Causes * of Dactylitis
- Anemia
- Psoriatic arthritis
- Reactive arthritis
- sickle cell
- Gonorrhea
- Leprosy
- Syphilis
- Ankylosing spondylitis
- Tuberculosis
