Dr. Krygier is an orthopaedic surgery resident at the Detroit Medical Center/Wayne State University training program in Detroit, MI. Dr. DeSilva is an assistant professor in the Wayne State University department of orthopaedic surgery and the chief of orthopaedic services at the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, both in Detroit.
The rarity with which cancer spreads to the distal skeleton can cause clinicians to miss this diagnosis. These authors describe two cases in which hand metastases were mistaken for infection.