[X-ray diagnosis of complications of purulent processes in the wrist]

To reveal the spreading of a purulent process to the antebrachial fatty spaces a study was made of an x-ray picture of soft tissues of the radiocarpal articulation and the forearm distal half in 126 patients with hand paronychia and phlegmon. In 24 of 95 patients with an unclear clinical picture of purulent discharge, typical x-ray symptoms of changes in soft tissues of the distal third of the forearm were found: typical deformity of fatty spaces with its distinct dynamics with relation to a stage of development of a pathological process. X-ray investigation permits the recognition of complications in hand purulent processes in order to take necessary therapeutic measures.