gms | German Medical Science

Objectives/Interrogation: The presence of benign and malignant bone tumors that arising in the upper extremities are rare in comparison to other anatomical locations. Even rare are large epidemiological series presenting those lesions in literature.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical archives of the Microsurgery, Hand and Upper extremity Department, considering patients who were operated for bone tumor and tumor like lesions between 1995 and 2015. Patients were reviewed for demographic data, type of tumor and affected area.

Results and Conclusions: From a total of 1102 patients who were operated for any tumor during a period of 20 years, 143 patients (13%) were found suffering from a bone tumor. 65 patients (45%) were male with a mean age of 38,41 years, while females (78 patients/55%) had a mean age of 38,74 years. Histopathological studies revealed 12 cases (8,4%) of malignant tumors affecting 9 women(6,3%) and 3 men (2,1%), 5 (3,5% of total) of whom were considered primary.

79 patients (55,25%) had a bone tumor on their right extremity, 44 of whom where women. Considering the anatomical area, the hand (104 patients, 72,7%) was most affected, followed by the humerus (13 patients, 9%), the radius and ulna (12 patients, 8,4%), the carpal bones (6 patients, 4,2%), while 8 patients (5,6%) affected at the elbow, clavicle and the scapula. Enchondroma is the most common neoplasma (59 patients, 41,3%), followed by osteochondroma (18 patients, 12,6%), osteoid osteoma (12 patients, 8,4%) and GCT of the bones (7 patients, 4,9%). Other types of bone tumors cover the 32,2% of cases.

Our series confirms the fact that malignant bone tumors are extremely rare in the upper extremity, as well as that the hand is the most affected area considering a variety of bone tumors. Enchondromas cover the majority of cases. Since our department is considered a reference center for upper extremity and hand surgery, this study can be a useful tool when dealing with bone lesions at the referred anatomical areas in the Greek population.