Digital pacinian neuroma: a distinctive hyperplastic lesion

Neural tumours composed solely of Pacinian corpuscles or showing focal Pacinian differentiation are extremely rare and have only occasionally been reported in the literature. All such lesions to date have been benign. Three lesions are described herein which presented as painful digital masses in middle-aged adults and which were composed of abnormal aggregates of morphologically mature Pacinian corpuscles and intervening small nerves. Only five similar cases have been previously recorded. Possible pathogenetic mechanisms of this unusual hyperplastic phenomenon are discussed.