Atypical Infections versus Inflammatory Conditions of the Hand: The Role of Imaging in Diagnosis

Atypical infections may manifest in the setting of low clinical suspicion and, because of some similarity to other inflammatory conditions regarding their clinical and imaging findings, misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis is not infrequent. The latter may lead to elevated risk of severe bone and joint destruction, and higher morbidity. This review addresses the challenging subject of discussing the imaging characteristics of atypical infections and a variety of inflammatory conditions of the hand, and emphasizes the key points that assist in the differentiation of the two broad clinical categories of infections versus inflammatory causes.