Tumor-Induced Osteomalacia: A Case Report of Rare Disease and Literature review

Oncogenic osteomalacia term used for tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO) is a paraneoplastic syndrome of abnormal phosphate metabolism secondary to ectopic endocrine tumors. The diagnosis often becomes difficult due to rarity of occurrence and deficient literature. The reconstruction following resection has its own technical difficulties, which are addressed in this article.

A 39-year-old female presented with pain in bilateral lower limbs and difficulty in mobilizing. The patient had unexplained hypophosphatemia which was diagnosed due to tumor (arising ectopically in greater trochanter), inducing osteomalacia. She was managed successfully with excision of tumor and reconstruction. The biochemical parameters improved drastically within 5 days and fracture healed in 6 weeks' time.

TIO is a debilitating disease with significant morbidity due to prolonged onset to diagnosis interval and difficulty in localizing the causative tumor. So thorough clinico-radiological and laboratory parameter correlation is a necessity. A rapid diagnosis followed by complete surgical excision, which remains the gold standard treatment modality that confers favorable prognosis in most patients, with strict vigilance for recurrence is required.