Soft tissue chondroma presenting as a painful finger: diagnosis by magnetic resonance imaging

Benign cartilage tumors of the hands and feet are uncommon soft tissue tumors that generally present as a painless swelling. The diagnosis is often made histologically, as the radiographic appearance of the soft tissues may be normal. In this report, we present a woman who demonstrates the need to consider soft tissue chondromas in the differential diagnosis of a painful finger. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to localize the tumor, suggesting that this imaging method may be useful in differential diagnosis of finger pain.