Our clinical experience on calcaneal bone cysts: 36 cysts in 33 patients

Abstract

Simple bone cysts with the location of calcaneus are not a rare entity. According to our series, simple bone cysts have been shown to be typically located in the calcaneus bone in middle-aged patients in particular. Furthermore, in such patients, heel pain is considerably severe, which is a symptom to be kept in mind in differential diagnosis. Curettage and autogenous grafting is the successful method of treatment and it provides good results.

Treatment of Unicameral Bone Cysts of the Calcaneus: A Systematic Review

“…Nine studies consisted of level IV evidence (3)(4)(5)(8)(9)(10)13,23,26), and 1 level III case-control study (25) was included. The earliest study was published in 1974 (3) and the most recent in 2011 (13 The heel pain had resolved spontaneously in 1.1% AE 1.0% of patients treated nonoperatively ( Table 2).…”

“…Open curettage with bone graft substitutes such as calcium phosphate and calcium sulfate is one such treatment modality. Only 4 patients total were reported using these bone graft substitutes, all of whom demonstrated radiographic healing after at least 2 years of radiographic follow-up (4,9). Innami et al (13) percutaneously injected calcium phosphate in conjunction with endoscopic curettage.…”

“…Nonoperative measures included observation (3)(4)(5)8,9) and intraosseous steroid injections (8). All open operative methods included curettage (3)(4)(5)12,(16)(17)(18)20,28) and were further divided into 2 groups: cannulated screw decompression (10,23) and bone augmentation with an autograft (3)(4)(5)8,9,26), an allograft (4,8,25,26), and/or cement substitutes such as calcium phosphate and calcium sulfate (4,9). Two additional surgical techniques were included in the data collection: endoscopic curettage with calcium phosphate (13) and percutaneous injection of demineralized bone powder with autologous bone marrow (25).…”

“…All case reports and studies with a minimum follow-up of <1 year were also excluded. After accounting for all inclusion and exclusion criteria, 10 studies with 171 patients (181 cysts) were selected for inclusion (3)(4)(5)(8)(9)(10)13,23,25,26) (Fig. 1).…”

“…UBCs affect males more often than females in a 2.5:1 ratio and traditionally present in the first 2 decades of life (1,2). However, some investigators have suggested that UBCs localized to the calcaneus occur more frequently in middle-age populations (4,5). UBCs affect the proximal humerus and femur in 75% of patients <17 years old but are located in the ilium and calcaneus in >50% of patients >17 years old (6,7).…”