Bone & joints
Other nonneoplastic
Bursitis
Author: Vijay Shankar, M.D.
Last author update: 1 December 2012
Last staff update: 10 December 2021
Copyright: 2002-2024, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Bursitis [title] joints
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Clinical features | Case reports | Treatment | Clinical images | Gross description | Microscopic (histologic) description | VideosCite this page: Shankar V. Bursitis. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/jointsbursitis.html. Accessed April 20th, 2024.
Definition / general
- Pain, erythema, swelling around bursae that lie between muscles, tendons and bony prominences
- Usually due to chronic trauma (professional athletes in shoulders, pre and infrapatellar bursae of those who kneel); rheumatoid arthritis
- Rarely associated with infection, gout
- Associated with cysts, fluid and loose bodies
- Chronically inflamed bursa may develop extensive calcification
- Subdeltoid bursitis: degeneration of muscle / tendon in shoulder rotator cuff, followed by deposition of calcium in necrotic collagenous tissue, which stimulates inflammatory reaction
Clinical features
- Common sites: shoulder, knee, elbow and hip
- Infrequent sites: interspinous, ischio gluteal, retrocalcaneal
Case reports
- 18 year old woman with interspinous bursitis (J Bone Joint Surg Br 2004;86:1062)
- 45 year old man with subacromial bursitis related to HIV infection (Braz J Infect Dis 2010;14:645)
Treatment
- Varies based on cause of bursitis and changes in bursa
- Includes aspiration, antibiotic irrigation, incision and drainage (for abscess), excision (for thickened bursa)
Clinical images
Images hosted on other servers:
Elbow
Gross description
- Thickened, erythematous and shaggy bursal wall with fibrinous exudates
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Chronic inflammation, scarring
Videos
Elbow: chronic fibrinous bursitis
