- Diff Dx: Painful Joint:
- four conditions may cause an excruciatingly painful joint;
- infection
- Gout or, rarely, Pseudogout;
- Rheumatic Fever;
- Tumor;
- Diff Dx Tumor:
- osteoid osteoma
- Osteosarcoma
- chondrosarcoma
- Chondroblastoma
- Fibrosarcoma of bone
- Fibrous Dysplasia
- Giant Cell Tumor of Bone
- Eosinophilic granuloma
- Ewing's sarcoma
- Reticulum cell sarcoma
- Discussion: Painful Tumors:
- clinical features associated with bone tumors include pain, deformity, and impairment of function;
- pain is feature common to almost all malignant tumors of bone, but may or may not be present in benign lesions;
- malignant bone tumors are usually associated with deep, aching pain, which, although not sharp and sometimes not severe, is quite
distressing to the patient because of its constancy;
- pain that persists at night and is not relieved by rest is suggestive of malignancy; however, certain benign tumors, such as osteoid osteoma,
are characterized by nocturnal pain;
- mild, dull, aching back pain that suddenly becomes excruciating w/ such insignificant trauma as sitting down a bit hard suggests pathologic
compression frx in vertebra involved by metastatic cancer