We thank the authors for their interest in our research and for suggesting that ganglion cysts should be included in our next study. As mentioned by the authors, no previous publications have
mentioned ganglion cysts as work-related injuries in gastrointestinal endoscopy. Hand numbness,
DeQuervain’s tenosynovitis, and carpal tunnel syndrome are the most frequent injuries located in
the wrist/hand and seen in endoscopists [1]
[2]. In addition, while expanding our research to other fields of endoscopy as bronchoscopy
and urology, we could not find any studies reporting the above-mentioned injury.
Our study was based on state-of-the-art research in which ganglion cysts were not included
or mentioned. However, responders had the opportunity to specify any additional injury that
differed from the provided list. Looking retrospectively at our raw data, we could not identify
any “ganglion cysts” reported by the respondents when checking “Others” in the answer field for
the question related to the kind of musculoskeletal injury. In regard to use of invasive
treatment for ganglion cysts, we cannot make any statements about whether gastrointestinal
endoscopists would opt for it or not. However, we can report the data from our study, which
showed that some participants did resort to surgery to treat other medical conditions that
resulted from work-related injuries.
As reported by Gregush et al [3], the etiology of ganglion cyst is unknown, although it is believed to arise from
repetitive trauma that causes degeneration of the connective tissues. Although most ganglion
cysts are asymptomatic, they can cause pain, tenderness, and weakness. Therefore, ganglion cyst
cannot be excluded as one of the causes of pain of the wrist and hand joints reported in ours
and previous studies.
