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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes The Formation Of A Fluid-filled Sack On The Elbow?

I had an infection in my left arm from a blood draw that caused swelling in the area of the blood draw to the wrist. Went to a doctor who put me on antibiotics and after five days I went to the emergency clinic and the doctor doubled the antibiotics for a total of 10 days beginning with the first doctor and the swelling went down and the red rash disappeared. Five days went by and Popeyes s elbow appeared in the same arm and it developed a big sack on the elbow and NO pain. Elbow works fine except for the fluid sack that won t go away. The doctor says unless it gets bigger or causes pain don t worry about it unless I want it removed. It has been almost three months and nothing has changed, same size big sack of like gel and no pain. What s up? Both doctors don t fell the blood draw caused an infection
Tue, 7 Mar 2017
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Infectious Diseases Specialist 's  Response
hello, It seems you are having olicranon bursitis. if its large and cosmetically problematic or physically hindering your day today duties you can surgically remove it. You don't have to wait until it get infected to do the medical intervention.
There are two possibilities for getting olecranon bursitis. One is bleeding to the elbow joint due to the blood drawing .
Other thing is infection and inflammation of close by tissues which led to fluid accumulation in olecranon bursae.
Hope this helps. Thank you.
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  Anonymous's Response
Anonymous's  Response
Hello there,

It seems that you have an inflamed bursa covering the elbow joint (called a bursitis). A bursa is a small fluid-filled sac which acts as a protective cushion for your elbow joints. An inflammation of this fluid-filled sac can be caused by a (reaction to) a bacterial infection, injury or due to prolonged pressure on the elbows (also called "Student's Elbow" among students!)

It is possible that, as a physical reaction to the infection you have had after the blood draw, your bursa became inflamed, but without signs of a bacterial infection. That means there is luckily no bacteria involved. A bacterial infected bursitis is usually associated with pain, redness, and tenderness of the elbow, which is not the case in your story.

Don't worry, your doctor is right. As long as you do not feel pain, fever or tenderness of the elbow it's okay to just wait and see. A bursitis normally can take up weeks to months before it subsides.

Good luck!

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What Causes The Formation Of A Fluid-filled Sack On The Elbow?

hello, It seems you are having olicranon bursitis. if its large and cosmetically problematic or physically hindering your day today duties you can surgically remove it. You don t have to wait until it get infected to do the medical intervention. There are two possibilities for getting olecranon bursitis. One is bleeding to the elbow joint due to the blood drawing . Other thing is infection and inflammation of close by tissues which led to fluid accumulation in olecranon bursae. Hope this helps. Thank you.