ULTRASOUND FINDINGS OF GANGLIONS OF THE WRIST

Fifty-one patients with a palpable swelling of a wrist or finger of suspected ganglion origin were examined by ultrasound (US). Forty-five were operated on, and a ganglion was found in 35. The ganglions took the form of cysts 0.4-4 cm in diameter (mean 1.4 cm) with a projection into the joint or tendon in 19 cases. Two patients had multiple ganglia, and two a wrist lipoma, one echo-rich and the other echo-poor with a thick wall. One patient had a giant cell tumour of the tendon sheath which was moderately echogenic in appearance, one had carpal tunnel syndrome and a ganglion-like finding at US, one had tenosynovitis and negative US and one had a prominent tendon due to postoperative sequelae, with US showing a longish echo-poor lesion. Two had hypertrophied muscle forming a long echo-poor structure, one had an exostosis and one had no abnormality in the wrist at operation. Our experiences suggest that ultrasound is useful in many cases with impression of a ganglion at palpation showing multiplicity of a lesion or for assisting in differential diagnosis, although a physical examination is mostly sufficient for diagnostic purposes.