Abstract
An 76-year-old man with an indolent soft tissue mass on the volar aspect of the left elbow was referred to our institution with a diagnosis of a soft tissue tumor. He had a history of lung tuberculosis since the age of 30. The mass was adjacent to the biceps brachi tendon. It demonstrated homogeneous low-signal intensity on T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images and heterogeneous relatively high signal intensity with scattered low and high signal intensity areas on T2-weighted MR images. An excision was performed after needle biopsy with presumptive diagnosis of bicipitoradial bursitis. The histological specimen revealed an epithelioid cell granuloma with central necrosis. While the occurrence of tuberculous bicipitoradial bursitis has never been reported, this case demonstrates that it can be considered to be among the causes of a cystic lesion around the elbow joint.
References
Watts HG, Lifeso RM. Tuberculosis of bones and joints. J Bone Joint Surg 1996;78-A:288–98.
Buckner CB, Leithiser RE, Walker CW. The changing epidemiology of tuberculosis and other mycobacterial infection in the United states. Am J Roentgenol 1991;56:255–64.
Mehta JB, Dutt A, Harvill L, Mathews KM. Epidemiology of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. A comparative analysis with pre-AIDS era. Chest 1991;99:1134–8.
Skaf AY, Boutin RD, Dantas RWM, Hooper AW, Muhle C, Chou DS, et al. Bicipitoradial bursitis: MR imaging findings in eight patients and anatomic data from contrast material opacification of bursae followed by routine radiography and MR imaging in cadavers. Radiology 1999;212:111–6.
Karanjia ND, Stiles PJ. Cubital bursitis. J Bone Joint Surg 1988;70-B:832–3.
Spinner RJ, Lins RE, Collins AJ, Spinner M. Posterior interosseous nerve compression due to an enlarged bicipitoradial bursa confirmed by MRI. J Hand Surg 1993;18-B:753–6.
Matsumoto K, Hukuda S, Fujita M, Kakimoto A, Tachibana S. Cubital bursitis caused by localized synovial chondromatosis of the elbow. A case report. J Bone Joint Surg 1996;78-A:275–7.
Spence LD, Adams J, Gibbons D, Mason MD, Eustace S. Rice body formation in bicipito-radial bursitis: ultrasound, CT, and MRI findings. Skeletal Radiol 1998;27:30–2.
Sen P, Kapila R, Salaki I, Louria DB. The diagnostic enigma of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. J Chronic Dis 1977;30:331.
Yao DC, Sartoris DJ. Musculoskeletal tuberculosis. Radiol Clin North Am 1995;33:679–89.
Jaovisidha S, Chen C, Ryu KN, Siriwongpairat P, Pekanan P, Sartoris DJ, et al. Tuberculous tenosynovitis and bursitis: imaging findings in 21 cases. Radiology 1996;201:507–13.
McNeur JC, Pritchard AE. Tuberculosis of the greater trochanter. J Bone Joint Surg 1955;37-Br:246–51.
Soler R, Rodriguez E, Remuinan C, Santos M. MRI of musculoskeletal extraspinal tuberculosis. J Comput Ass Tomo 2001;25:177–83.
Rehm-Graves S, Weinstein AJ, Calabrese LH. Tuberculosis of the great trochanteric bursa. Arthritis Rheum 1983;26:77–81.
Lindahl O. Tuberculoous trochanteritis. Acta Tuberc Scand 1952;26:289–300.
Acknowledgement
The authors thank Yoichi Satoh MD, PhD, Chairman of the Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine Iwate Medical University, for his advice during the revision of this paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nishida, J., Furumachi, K., Ehara, S. et al. Tuberculous bicipitoradial bursitis: A case report. Skeletal Radiol 36, 445–448 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-006-0212-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-006-0212-3