Patient history and differential diagnosis

Warning

Common Differential Diagnoses:

  • Osteoarthritis
  • Carpal tunnel syndrome
  • Dupuytrens
  • Epicondylitis
  • Mallet finger
  • Trigger finger
  • De Quervains syndrome

Osteoarthritis

The following articles contain general information relating to the pathology of Upper Limb Osteoarthritis

Debono, L., Mafart, B., Jeusel, E. and Guipert, G., 2004. Is the incidence of elbow osteoarthritis underestimated? Insights from paleopathology. Joint Bone Spine, 71(5), pp.397-400.
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Goldhammer, M.A., Smith, S.H., Fitzpatrick, N. and Clements, D.N., 2010. A comparison of radiographic, arthroscopic and histological measures of articular pathology in the canine elbow joint. The Veterinary Journal, 186(1), pp.96-103.
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Carpal tunnel syndrome

The following articles contain general information relating to the pathology of carpal tunnel syndrome

Ng, A.W., Griffith, J.F., Tong, C.S., Law, E.K., Tse, W.L., Wong, C.W. and Ho, P.C., 2019. MRI criteria for diagnosis and predicting severity of carpal tunnel syndrome. Skeletal Radiology, pp.1-9.
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Ng, A.W.H., Griffith, J.F., Lee, R.K.L., Tse, W.L., Wong, C.W.Y. and Ho, P.C., 2018. Ultrasound carpal tunnel syndrome: additional criteria for diagnosis. Clinical radiology, 73(2), pp.214-e11.
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Schols, A.M.R., Beekman, R., Cals, J.W.L. and Ottenheijm, R.P.G., 2018. Carpal tunnel syndrome: a clinical diagnosis. Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde, 162.
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Sonoo, M., Menkes, D.L., Bland, J.D. and Burke, D., 2018. Nerve conduction studies and EMG in carpal tunnel syndrome: do they add value?. Clinical neurophysiology practice, 3, pp.78-88.
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Dupuytren's

The following articles contain general information relating to the pathology of Dupuytren's Contracture

Batta, A., 2019. Biochemical Diagnosis of Dupuytren’s Disease. East African Scholars Publisher, 2(3), pp.43-47
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Nordenskjöld, J., Englund, M., Zhou, C. and Atroshi, I., 2017. Prevalence and incidence of doctor-diagnosed Dupuytren’s disease: a population-based study. Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume), 42(7), pp.673-677.
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Park, T.H., Kim, D., Lee, Y.S. and Kim, S.Y., 2019. A Meta‐analysis to Identify Novel Diagnostic and Therapeutic Targets for Dupuytren's Disease. Wound Repair and Regeneration.
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Wendahl, A. and Abd-Elsayed, A., 2019. Dupuytren’s Contracture. In Pain (pp. 1243-1245). Springer, Cham.
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Epicondylitis

The following articles contain general information relating to the pathology of epicondylitis

Buchanan, B.K. and Varacallo, M., 2019. Tennis Elbow (Lateral Epicondylitis). In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing.
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Degen, R.M., Conti, M.S., Camp, C.L., Altchek, D.W., Dines, J.S. and Werner, B.C., 2018. Epidemiology and disease burden of lateral epicondylitis in the USA: analysis of 85,318 patients. HSS Journal®, 14(1), pp.9-14.
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Pieren, A., Dougados, M., Le Goux, P., Lavielle, M., Roux, C. and Moltό, A., 2017. SAT0583 Lateral epicondylitis: what is new? diagnostic, imaging and treatment. a systematic literature review.
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Yoon, S.K., Thiese, M.S., Ott, U., Kapellusch, J., Merryweather, A., Wood, E.M., Ronna, B.B., Foster, J., Drury, D.L. and Hegmann, K.T., 2019. The Role of Elbow Tender Point Examination in the Diagnosis of Lateral Epicondylitis. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 61(2), pp.126-131.
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Mallet finger

The following articles contain general information relating to the pathology of mallet-finger

Bachoura, A., Ferikes, A.J. and Lubahn, J.D., 2017. A review of mallet finger and jersey finger injuries in the athlete. Current Reviews in Musculoskeletal Medicine, 10(1), p.1.
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Cressey, B.D., Clark, A. and Jellinek, N.J., 2019. Mallet Finger as a Complication of Dermatologic Surgery: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention. Dermatologic Surgery, 45(7), pp.997-999.
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Rosinsky, P., Sarig, O., David, Y. and Oron, A., 2018. MALLET FINGER-DIAGNOSIS, CLASSIFICATION AND TREATMENT. Harefuah, 157(2), pp.104-107.
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Wang, T., Qi, H., Teng, J., Wang, Z. and Zhao, B., 2017. The Role of High Frequency Ultrasonography in Diagnosis of Acute Closed Mallet Finger Injury. Scientific reports, 7(1), p.11049.
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Trigger finger

The following articles contain general information relating to the pathology of trigger-finger

Almeida, S.F., 2019. Epidemiology of Trigger Finger: Metabolic Syndrome as a New Perspective of Associated Disease. Hand (New York, NY), pp.1558944719867135-1558944719867135.
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Kim, H.R. and Lee, S.H., 2010. Ultrasonographic assessment of clinically diagnosed trigger fingers. Rheumatology international, 30(11), pp.1455-1458.
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Matthews, A., Smith, K., Read, L., Nicholas, J. and Schmidt, E., 2019. Trigger finger: An overview of the treatment options. JAAPA: official journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, 32(1), p.17.
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Mifune, Y., Inui, A., Sakata, R., Harada, Y., Takase, F., Kurosaka, M. and Kokubu, T., 2016. High-resolution ultrasound in the diagnosis of trigger finger and evaluation of response to steroid injection. Skeletal radiology, 45(12), pp.1661-1667.
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De Quervain's syndrome

The following articles contain general information relating to the pathology of de Quervain’s syndrome / tenosynovitis

Blackburn, J., van der Oest, M.J., Selles, R.W., Chen, N.C., Feitz, R., Vranceanu, A.M. and Porsius, J.T., 2019. Which psychological variables are associated with pain and function before surgery for de quervain’s tenosynovitis? A Cross-sectional study. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research®, 477(12), pp.2750-2758.
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McBain, B., Rio, E., Cook, J., Grabinski, R. and Docking, S., 2019. Diagnostic accuracy of imaging modalities in the detection of clinically diagnosed de Quervain’s syndrome: a systematic review. Skeletal radiology, pp.1-7.
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Stahl, S., Vida, D., Meisner, C., Stahl, A.S., Schaller, H.E. and Held, M., 2015. Work related etiology of de Quervain’s tenosynovitis: a case-control study with prospectively collected data. BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 16(1), p.126.
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Wu, F., Rajpura, A. and Sandher, D., 2018. Finkelstein's Test Is Superior to Eichhoff's Test in the Investigation of de Quervain's Disease. Journal of hand and microsurgery, 10(02), pp.116-118.
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Cubital tunnel syndrome

The following articles contain general information relating to the pathology of cubital tunnel syndrome

Andrews, K., Rowland, A., Pranjal, A. and Ebraheim, N., 2018. Cubital tunnel syndrome: anatomy, clinical presentation, and management. Journal of orthopaedics, 15(3), pp.832-836.
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Chang, K.V., Wu, W.T., Han, D.S. and Özçakar, L., 2018. Ulnar nerve cross-sectional area for the diagnosis of cubital tunnel syndrome: a meta-analysis of ultrasonographic measurements. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 99(4), pp.743-757.
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Osei, D.A., Groves, A.P., Bommarito, K. and Ray, W.Z., 2016. Cubital tunnel syndrome: incidence and demographics in a national administrative database. Neurosurgery, 80(3), pp.417-420.
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Staples, J.R. and Calfee, R., 2017. Cubital tunnel syndrome: current concepts. JAAOS-Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 25(10), pp.e215-e224.
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Editorial Information

Last reviewed: 01/08/2024

Next review date: 01/08/2025

Approved By: British Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists (BAPO)

Reviewer name(s): Laura Barr, British Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists (BAPO) Professional Affairs Committee .