Benign Hand Tumors (Part II): Soft Tissue Tumors

Area of Science:

• Hand surgery
• Orthopedic oncology
• Soft tissue pathology

Background:

• Benign soft-tissue tumors of the hand are more prevalent than bone tumors or malignant soft-tissue tumors.
• This study focuses on the characteristics and treatment of these benign hand tumors based on institutional data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the epidemiological characteristics and treatment outcomes of benign soft-tissue tumors of the hand.
• To provide insights for improved diagnosis and management strategies.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of histologically confirmed benign soft-tissue tumors of the hand (1992-2015).
• Data collection included patient demographics, tumor type, location, and treatment modality.
• International Classification of Disease codes were used for tumor identification.

Main Results:

• 199 benign soft-tissue tumors were identified, with a median patient age of 47.4 years.
• The majority of tumors were located in the digits (84%) and treated via excision (96%).
• Localized tenosynovial giant cell tumors were most common (36%) with an 8.5% recurrence rate. Hemangioma, schwannoma, and glomus tumors were also frequent.

Conclusions:

• Understanding tumor characteristics aids physicians in diagnosis and treatment planning.
• Despite tumor variety, common principles for clinical and imaging diagnosis apply.
• Marginal excision is a suitable treatment for pain, functional improvement, and cosmetic correction across all benign hand tumor histologies.