Ganglion cyst

A benign cyst filled with thick, clear mucin and joined by a stalk to a nearby joint capsule or tendon sheath; its wall has no true synovial lining. It is the commonest lump of the hand and wrist and arises most often on the back of the wrist over the scapholunate ligament, on the front of the wrist beside the radial artery, from a finger's flexor tendon sheath, or as a mucous cyst at the end joint. About half resolve without treatment.

Related terms

• Condition

  Mucous cyst

  A ganglion of the distal interphalangeal joint, lying on the back of the finger between the end joint and the nail fold. It is associated with osteoarthritis of the joint and its osteophytes (Heberden nodes), can groove the nail by pressing on the nail matrix, and recurs least often when the joint is debrided at the time the cyst is excised.

• Anatomy

  Scapholunate ligament

  The ligament joining the scaphoid and the lunate in the proximal row of wrist bones; its thick dorsal part is the main stabiliser of the scapholunate joint. Most dorsal wrist ganglia arise from the capsule over it, so its fibres are preserved during ganglion excision. A tear can lead to scapholunate instability, tested with the Watson scaphoid shift test.

• Treatment

  Aspiration

  Drawing fluid out of a cyst or a joint through a needle. For a ganglion it is quick and done in the clinic, sometimes guided by ultrasound or combined with a steroid injection, but the cyst comes back in about half of cases or more — more often than after surgical excision.

Articles mentioning this term

1. Patient information · 2 October 2026

   Ganglion cysts

   Ganglion cysts of the wrist and fingers: why they form, why many go away on their own, what needle drainage and surgery can do, and the risks.

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