Biomaterial Database

Sea urchin injuries to the hand: a case report and review of the literature. 2010

William J Dahl, and Peter Jebson, and Dean S Louis

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5328, USA. wdahl@umich.edu

Sea urchin injuries to the hand are uncommon. A variety of home remedies can be found on the internet and other sources for dealing with this problem in the acute setting. Many long term complications such as granulomas, arthritis, and tenosynovitis can result from a neglected sea urchin injury. We report an unusual case of a patient with a remote sea urchin injury who presented with ulnar digital nerve paresthesias. A traumatic neuroma was found on surgical exploration. We review the literature on injuries to the hand caused by sea urchins and their management. Management of sea urchin injuries to the hand with retained spines requires surgical debridement in order to prevent significant long term complications including stiffness, tenosynovitis, granulomas, and arthritis.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008875	Middle Aged	An adult aged 45 - 64 years.	Middle Age
D009463	Neuroma	A tumor made up of nerve cells and nerve fibers. (Dorland, 27th ed)	Neuromas
D010292	Paresthesia	Subjective cutaneous sensations (e.g., cold, warmth, tingling, pressure, etc.) that are experienced spontaneously in the absence of stimulation.	Dysesthesia,Formication,Paresthesia, Distal,Paresthesia, Painful,Distal Paresthesia,Distal Paresthesias,Dysesthesias,Formications,Painful Paresthesia,Painful Paresthesias,Paresthesias,Paresthesias, Distal,Paresthesias, Painful
D003646	Debridement	The removal of foreign material and devitalized or contaminated tissue from or adjacent to a traumatic or infected lesion until surrounding healthy tissue is exposed. (Dorland, 27th ed)	Debridements
D005260	Female		Females
D006230	Hand Injuries	General or unspecified injuries to the hand.	Injuries, Hand,Hand Injury,Injury, Hand
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D012617	Sea Urchins	Somewhat flattened, globular echinoderms, having thin, brittle shells of calcareous plates. They are useful models for studying FERTILIZATION and EMBRYO DEVELOPMENT.	Echinoidea,Sand-Dollar,Clypeasteroida,Sand Dollars,Clypeasteroidas,Dollar, Sand,Dollars, Sand,Echinoideas,Sand Dollar,Sand-Dollars,Sea Urchin,Urchin, Sea,Urchins, Sea
D013717	Tenosynovitis	Inflammation of the synovial lining of a tendon sheath. Causes include trauma, tendon stress, bacterial disease (gonorrhea, tuberculosis), rheumatic disease, and gout. Common sites are the hand, wrist, shoulder capsule, hip capsule, hamstring muscles, and Achilles tendon. The tendon sheaths become inflamed and painful, and accumulate fluid. Joint mobility is usually reduced.	Tenosynovitides