Review Question - QID 220006

A 61-year-old right-hand dominant male currently undergoing immunotherapy for lymphoma presents to the emergency department with a greater than one-week history of worsening pain along the volar aspect of his long finger after getting a splinter. On physical examination, the involved digit rests in a flexed position with fusiform swelling present as demonstrated in Figure A. The patient endorses pain with passive extension of the digit and palpation along the flexor tendon sheath. What aspect of this patient's clinical picture requires urgent operative management?