Bizarre parosteal osteochondromatous proliferation in the jaws: a systematic review

The bizarre parosteal osteochondromatous proliferation (bpop) is a rare lesion that affects long tubular bones of the feet and hands. Since these lesions are even rarer in the jaws, this systematic review aimed to summarize the up-to-date scientific evidence that can guide health professionals on the diagnosis and treatment of bpop in the jaws.

This prisma-guided and prospero-registered (crd42024524576) review included case reports with confirmed anatomopathological diagnosis of bpop. The articles were searched in november 2024 in the pubmed, scopus, web of science, scielo, cochrane library, embase, and livivo databases and the academic repositories (proquest, open grey, ibict/bdt, and google scholar) without language or publication date restrictions.

Twelve cases of patients aged between 2 and 72 years (mean 26.5 ± 19.8 years) with equal gender distribution were included. Most lesions were clinically described as nodules or swellings (83.5%), asymptomatic (58.3%), with a mean diameter of 15.8 ± 16.2 mm, located in the mandible (58.3%) and anterior region of the jaws (75%). Radiographically, 66.7% of the lesions had well-defined borders and 91.7% were in continuity with the cortical bone. Histopathological findings revealed pleomorphic chondrocytes (83.3%), hypercellular cartilage (83.3%), and 'blue bone' (50%). All bpop lesions were surgically excised and recurrence was observed in 41.7% of cases with a mean follow-up of 8.8 months.

Since bpop demonstrates a recurrent behavior, further investigations with long-term follow-up periods are needed to address its malignancy potential.