[Three-year-old child with osteoid osteoma of the thumb: Diagnostic and therapeutic challenge]

A three-year-old girl experienced a fifteen-month odyssey before the surgical removal of an osteoid-osteoma at the distal phalanx of the thumb to relieve her pain. Osteoid-osteoma is a benign bone tumor rarely found in the hand and not yet described as occurring in a small child in extant literature. In one of the first x-ray examinations, a small foreign body was found in the soft tissues of the right thumb. This finding subsequently led to the assumption that trauma was the cause for the pain.We critically discuss the numerous examinations and therapies that the child underwent as well as the lack of interdisciplinary cooperation among specialists for more than a year. The thumb was immobilized for months because of pain and is slowly being reintegrated into the child's body scheme following the last successful intervention.This publication highlights this tumor's rare occurrence in a small child and the importance of interdisciplinary cooperation facilitated today by digital media. This, along with early diagnosis, could save unnecessary suffering and financial resources.