Primadhi RA, Kartamihardja AHS. Subclinical ankle joint tuberculous arthritis - The role of scintigraphy: A case series. World J Orthop 2023; 14(4): 260-267 [PMID: 37155508 DOI: 10.5312/wjo.v14.i4.260]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Raden Andri Primadhi, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Surgeon, Department Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Universitas Padjadjaran/Hasan Sadikin Hospital, Jalan Pasteur 38, Bandung 40161, Indonesia. randri@unpad.ac.id
Research Domain of This Article
Orthopedics
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Orthop. Apr 18, 2023; 14(4): 260-267 Published online Apr 18, 2023. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v14.i4.260
Subclinical ankle joint tuberculous arthritis - The role of scintigraphy: A case series
Raden Andri Primadhi, Achmad Hussein Sundawa Kartamihardja
Raden Andri Primadhi, Department Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Universitas Padjadjaran/ Hasan Sadikin Hospital, Bandung 40161, Indonesia
Achmad Hussein Sundawa Kartamihardja, Departement of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Universitas Padjadjaran/Hasan Sadikin Hospital, Bandung 40161, Indonesia
Author contributions: Primadhi RA performed the majority of the writing and figure preparation; Kartamihardja AHS provided input and correction into the paper writing.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Raden Andri Primadhi, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Surgeon, Department Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Universitas Padjadjaran/Hasan Sadikin Hospital, Jalan Pasteur 38, Bandung 40161, Indonesia. randri@unpad.ac.id
Received: January 13, 2023 Peer-review started: January 13, 2023 First decision: January 31, 2023 Revised: February 6, 2023 Accepted: March 23, 2023 Article in press: March 23, 2023 Published online: April 18, 2023 Processing time: 95 Days and 4.8 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Tuberculosis remains a complicated problem. A lack of awareness accompanied by difficulty in diagnosis hinders the management of tuberculosis. Delayed management, particularly in osteoarticular regions, results in unnecessary procedures, including joint-sacrificing surgery.
CASE SUMMARY
Three cases of subclinical ankle joint tuberculosis without clear signs of tuberculosis were presented. The efficacy of technetium-99m-ethambutol scintigraphy in diagnosing early-stage tuberculous arthritis is reported.
CONCLUSION
The reports suggested that scintigraphy is recommended to diagnose subclinical tuberculous arthritis, especially in tuberculosis endemic regions.
Core Tip: Tuberculosis may present in a subclinical state that hindered the diagnosis and subsequent management. Technetium-99m-ethambutol scintigraphy is a useful noninvasive method to detect early stage of joint tuberculosis in which morphological and laboratory changes are still unclear. By using this method, earlier diagnosis and prompt intervention can be made especially in tuberculosis endemic regions, to avoid unnecessary procedures resulting from disease advancement.
