A 68-year-old Filipino man with a history of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and osteoarthritis presented to the emergency department with a one-week history of increasing pain, swelling, erythema, and seepage of his right great toe. The patient denied paresthesias, fever, chills, night sweats, cough, dyspnea, or any change in his diet, medications (which included lisinopril, metformin, and acetaminophen as needed), or routine. Social history was negative for alcohol use and cigarette smoking.
He previously had similar symptoms in his right fourth toe that resulted in amputation. The patient was told at the time that he had a “bone infection” and amputation was necessary.
The patient was thin, alert, oriented, and in no acute distress. His vital signs and a cardiopulmonary exam were normal. The patient’s right great toe was tender to touch, with ulceration of the skin dorsally at the proximal nail fold. In addition, his toe was oozing a purulent, non-foul smelling discharge (FIGURE 1). Other pertinent findings included multiple enlarged joints on both hands with visible yellow-white subcutaneous nodules on the hands and dorsum of the forearm (FIGURE 2).
The patient’s white blood cell count was 10,800/mcL, C-reactive protein (CRP) was 18 mg/L, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was 80 mm/hr, and uric acid was 12.5 mg/dL. His blood urea nitrogen was 52 mg/dL and creatinine was 2.5 mg/dL. A glycated hemoglobin test was 7.2%. A wound culture, aspirate from the dorsum of the toe, and x-ray were obtained.
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