# bone cyst in finger?



## hoofinitnorth

I was doing laundry the other day and I reached in to get the clothes out of the washer. The clothes were sort of tangled and wrapped around each other and so I met quite a bit of resistance when my little finger on my right hand just SNAPPED! OW!!! I said, "OW! That did NOT feel right!!" Then I called my husband and two of my sisters and asked, "How do you know if you broke your finger?"

I was sort of kidding since I could still move it ok but it hurt a lot, especially if I put any side-to-side pressure on it or tried to add resistance to it's movements. I thought maybe I sprained it or separated the bone from the tendon or ligaments.

It swelled a bit so I iced it and made a homemade splint. That night I said, "If it isn't better in the morning I'll ride with my husband to the walk-in clinic." The next morning it was more swollen and still hurt a bit so off I went to the clinic.

Two hours later I got to see a PA and he said the same as I thought but wanted an xray to be sure there was no bone chip floating around in there. I was going to push for an MRI if he didn't order one on his own after seeing the xray since my hands are my life, but that was down the road so I patiently waited another hour to get an xray and get back in to see the PA.

Finally got back in with him and he put up the films, made several strange and befuddled comments to himself (but outloud) then said, "I have to check with the radiologist. Hold on."

He came back and said it was a bone cyst that had eaten away almost all the bone in that finger and weakened it so that the pressure I put on it probably fractured it in 3 or 4 places (but he wasn't sure since there was so little bone left to fracture). I asked him to show me the films and I concured as best I could without any medical training. 

He splinted me again and referred me to a hand specialist. That was Thursday. I still haven't been able to get ahold of the hand doc and I have shoulder surgery tomorrow (thankfully on the same arm). Ugh.

So I of course googled bone cysts and found there are two most common types - unicameral or simple and aneurysmal (or ABCs). The first ones are common but mostly happen in long or flat bones, mostly in males, usually discovered in the first or second decade of life, and usually occur in only one location in the body. The PA did mention he had never seen a cyst in a finger before. I added "phalange" to the search and came up only with ABCs this time and only referencing toes. ABCs are less common and usually have a causitive pathology like blastomas or some other sort of nasty (but not always I guess), usually occur in more than one place in the body at once, usually occur in females, and are usually found in the third and later decades of life.

Now I'm not about to say it's one or the other type since I'm of course not a doc but I do fit the profile of the latter more than the former. What I'm more concerned with is the further diagnostic studies they will need to do to determine the type & treatment regimen. Although the sites say they can sometimes just observe these cysts of they aren't destructive or malignant, or can treat with injections of steroids or marrow taken from the pelvis, I am also thinking they will have to put in a pin because there is just so little bone left there. *sigh*

Anyone have any experience with these things???

How's that for my (likely) first broken bone? OUCH!!!


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## RoseGarden

Odd you mention this.... my BIL is a PA, and a couple of years ago at Christmas at my parent's house, I got him to look at the index finger on my right hand, distal joint. I had a hard lump come up on the joint fairly quickly, in just a few months. He twisted and bent the joint and said it was probably either a dendritic cyst, (a clump of nerves) or a bone cyst. In either case he thought it was nothing much to worry about unless it got worse or the bone broke. That was two years ago and I use my hands regularly and do much hard physical work with them. No problems yet, thank goodness, other than my index finger being a bit crooked now. 

I do hope that you are able to get to the bottom of your problem, and that it heals up with no further complications. And good luck on your upcoming surgery too. Too bad something can't be done for both at the same time.


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## lostinthemusick

I'm a music major in college (flute), and a similar thing just happened to me, our band had toured in Europe and on the way back I hurt my pinky on some luggage. When it was still hurting a few days later I went to a walk in clinic, got an Xray, they saw this cyst/tumor looking thing where my bone should be and sent me to a hand specialist.
He explained that my finger fractured so easily because it was so thin. They aren't giving me much choice, I have to have surgery when the fracture heals. (hand surgery is very inconvenient when my semester is all about playing) They can't do it before hand, because the human cells that are healing the fracture could be confused with cancer cells if they did a biopsy of what is in the finger. They then are going to take bone from my wrist and put it into the finger to strengthen it.
It sounds like you broke your finger worse than I did, so I don't know if they can treat it the same way, but otherwise it sounds like your situation is similar. Good luck!


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