Dactylitis

Dactylitis or sausage digit is inflammation of an entire digit (a finger or toe),^[1] and can be painful.

Dactylitis
Syphilitic dactylitis

The word dactyl comes from the Greek word daktylos 'finger'. As a medical term, it refers to both the fingers and the toes.

Associated conditions

Dactylitis can occur in seronegative arthropathies, such as psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis, and in sickle-cell disease as result of a vasoocclusive crisis with bone infarcts, and in infectious conditions including tuberculosis, syphilis, and leprosy. In reactive arthritis, sausage fingers occur due to synovitis.^[2] Dactylitis may also be seen with sarcoidosis.

In sickle-cell disease it typically occurs after 6 months of age (as in infants protective fetal hemoglobin, HbF, is replaced with adult hemoglobin and the disease manifests) and is often the first clinical presentation of the disorder.^[3]