Late Presentation of a Retained Wood Foreign Body as an Expanding Soft-Tissue Mass in an Adolescent's Foot

Abstract

Case:A 12-year-5-month-old boy presented with a 3-month history of a 2 × 3-cm enlarging painful mass on the medial plantar aspect of his left foot. The radiograph was normal, but the magnetic resonance (MR) images clearly disclosed a foreign body in the shape of a toothpick that had been quiescent for 31 months. Thirty-three months after surgical removal, the patient was asymptomatic and had returned to full activity.Conclusion:A retained wood foreign body can present as an expanding mass, and MR is the modality of choice to image wood foreign bodies.