Tuberculous dactylitis, also known as spina ventosa,[1] is a skeletal manifestation of tuberculosis, one of the commonest forms of bacterial osteitis.
[3] The Swedish botanist and physician Carl von Linne was the first to mention the condition by the name spina ventosa (lit.
In the pediatric age group, the marrow in the phalangeal bones are still active, a conducive place for the tuberculous bacilli to multiply.
Slowly, the whole marrow space gets involved and this underlying granulomatous disease leads to expansion of the overlying soft cortex.
Surgery is limited in curetting the bone cavities to promote early healing in cystic tuberculosis.