An Unusual Location of Osteochondroma: Dorsal Scapula

Abstract

Osteochondromas commonly affect the proximal humerus, pelvis, and knee but are rarely seen on flat bones. Herein, we present the case of a 15-year-old female patient with osteochondroma located at the dorsal aspect of the scapula. The patient was admitted to the Orthopedics and Traumatology Department with the complaint of a mass on the left upper back for five years. The patient complained of the inability to sleep in the supine position, pain with shoulder motion, and cosmetic discomfort for two years. X-rays of the left shoulder revealed a bony mass arising from the dorsal aspect of the left scapula. The patient underwent an operation, and a specimen was sent for histopathologic examination. The histopathologic investigation confirmed the diagnosis of non-malignant transformation osteochondroma. While osteochondroma is not common in the scapula, it should be kept in mind that the most common benign tumor of the scapula is osteochondroma.

Rare Case of Osteochondroma on the Dorsal Aspect of the Scapula

“…Flat bones, such as the scapula, account for 3-4.6% of all cases of osteochondroma, with 14.4% of scapular tumors being diagnosed as osteochondroma [ 4 , 5 ]. The dorsal aspect of the scapula is a rare site of occurrence compared to the ventral aspect of the scapula, which comprises most cases of scapular exostoses [ 6 , 7 ].…”

Osteocondroma solitario de la escápula: localización poco habitual para un tumor frecuente

“…1,4,10 Sin embargo, en el caso aquí presentado, el osteocondroma se localizaba en la superficie dorsal, que es mucho menos frecuente. Existen pocos casos descritos en la literatura en dicha situación; Bektas 11 presenta el caso de un paciente de 15 años y Nekkanti 4 notifica dos casos, de 19 y 5 años de edad. Se estima que el 86-90 % son solitarios y que el 10-14 % de casos ocurren en relación con el síndrome.…”

“…En casos dudosos, o cuando el osteocondroma aparece en lugares poco frecuentes, los estudios como la tomografía computarizada (TC) o la RM son de utilidad. 3,6,7,11 La TC permite una mejor visualización de la continuidad corticomedular del osteocondroma con el hueso principal con respecto a la radiografía, en especial en localizaciones como el hombro o la pelvis. No obstante, este estudio tiene limitaciones para mostrar en detalle la capa cartilagionsa del tumor.…”

Osteochondroma of the Scapula: A Case Report and Literature Review

“…It was also reported to occur following local radiation therapy [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] and total body irradiation in children [16,24,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Osteochondroma rarely occurs in the scapula; but interestingly, it is the most common tumor occurring in the scapula [36][37][38][39][40][41][42], accounting for 4.6% of all bone tumors [38,43]. Osteochondromas are usually discovered incidentally due to their asymptomatic nature [3,44,45].…”