Isolated injury of the cuboid bone

The purpose of this study was to describe isolated injury of the cuboid bone as a potentially radiographically occult cause of foot pain. The imaging studies of 17 patients, 13 women and 4 men aged 17-79 years (average 45 years), who presented with pain over the lateral aspect of the midfoot were retrospectively reviewed. Frontal, lateral, and inversion-oblique radiographs were available for all patients. In addition, MR imaging was performed in eight patients, CT in two, conventional tomography in two, and bone scan in one. Conventional radiographs revealed cuboid fracture in seven patients. Of the remaining ten, eight underwent MR imaging which demonstrated four fractures, three bone bruises, and one stress reaction, and two had tomography, CT, and/or bone scan, all of which documented an isolated cuboid fracture. Isolated fracture of the cuboid may be radiographically occult. Other imaging modalities, particularly MR imaging, can document this injury as the source of pain.