A 24-year-old medical student was bitten at the base of her thumb by her dog. The wound became infected and the infection spread into the radial bursa. The tendon(s) of which muscle will most likely be affected?
High-Yield Explanation
Tenosynovitis can be due to an infection of the synovial sheaths of the digits. Tenosynovitis in the thumb may spread through the synovial sheath of the flexor pollicis longus tendon, also known as the radial bursa. The tendons of the flexor digitorum superficialis and profundus muscles are enveloped in the common synovial flexor sheath, or ulnar bursa. Neither the flexor carpi radialis nor flexor pollicis brevis tendons are contained in synovial flexor sheaths.