Statistical and histological analysis of tumors of the upper extremity

BACKGROUND: Tumors of the upper extremity are common and usually benign. The most commonly diagnosed are ganglion cysts: specific, non-neoplastic swellings localized mostly around the wrist. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this retrospective study was to determine the proportion of various types of nonganglionic hand tumors operated on at the authors’ institution in 2014. METHODS: A total of 246 patients, 141 women (57 %) and 105 men (43 %), with a mean age of 53 years and with tumorsof the upper extremity, were identified and treated in the authors’ institution in 2014. RESULTS: Almost half of the lesions were localized in the fingers (n = 119, 48 %), followed by the wrist (n=49, 20 %), metacarpus (n = 40, 16 %), and more proximal parts (n = 38, 16 %). The time between the patients noticing the lesion and surgery was a mean of 4 years (range, 1 month to 30 years). The most common lesion was giant cell tumor of the tendon sheath (n = 58, 23 %), followed by lipoma (n = 40, 16 %), epidermal cyst (n = 23, 9 %), enchondroma (n=16, 6 %), hemangioma (n = 14, 6 %), fibroma (n = 11, (4 %), glomus tumor (n = 10, (4 %), and rheumatoid nodule (n = 10, (4 %). Two cases of malignant fibrosarcoma were identified incidentally. CONCLUSION: A brief review of the literature is made referring to the data presented here.