Pattern of osteochondromas in Lagos, Nigeria

Osteochondromas are the most common benign tumours of bone. It is a problem of rapidly growing skeleton. Most of them are asymptomatic. The most common reason for presentation being perception of the lesion as a cosmetic blemish. This study aims to study the epidemiology of osteochondromas at National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi (NOHI), Lagos, Nigeria. This is a five year prospective study of osteochondromas that presented at NOHI, Lagos, Nigeria. NOHI is the largest orthopaedic reference centre in Nigeria. This study was necessitated by the paucity of epidemiological data on the subject in Nigeria and the sudden increase in the number of cases presenting to us. Sixty eight patients with histologically established osteochondromas were studied. Clear majority (42) were males. Forty two patients (61.8%) were aged 20 years or less. An overwhelming majority were pedunculated (88.2%) and solitary (97.1%). The commonest reason for presentation and request for treatment by patients was the lesion being a cosmetic blemish (85.3%). They all had excision and 2 patients (2.9%) had recurrence with malignant transformation. The study showed that osteochondromas were preponderant in Nigerian males in the second decade of life. Excision was the treatment of choice.