Abstract
Osteoma is a rarely encountered benign tumor; it is usually diagnosed as a slowly-growing mass in the skeleton. The development of osteoma in soft tissues without a direct contact with the adjacent osseous and articular structures is a very rare event. The involvement of the hand is even rarer, with only two previous cases reported so far. A 25-year-old right handed male patient presented with a painless solid mass in the thenar region of his right palm. The lesion had first appeared almost 2 years ago without a sign of trauma and showed a progressive enlargement in the last months. The physical examination has revealed a subcutaneous nonmobile mass approximately 3 x 2 cm in size with firm consistency in the thenar eminence. Under regional anesthesia an excisional biopsy was performed. No connection to the adjacent metacarpal bones was noted. On gross examination the lesion was grayish white, well encapsulated and solid, showing osseous consistency. The histopathological evaluation of the lesion has confirmed the diagnosis of soft tissue osteoma. The postoperative follow-up period was uneventful without any complication or recurrence. Following a brief period of hand physiotherapy the patient has returned to normal daily activities. Although soft-tissue osteomas constitute a rather negligible part, it can be easily confused with skeletal pathologies owing to its radiological properties and clinical features; therefore soft-tissue osteomas should be kept in mind in the differential diagnosis of all hand tumors.
DOI: 10.3944/AOTT.2015.15.0025
This abstract belongs to the un-edited version of the article and is only for informative purposes. Published version may differ from the current version.