Benign and malignant cartilagenous tumors of the hand

Abstract

God has provided man with two hands to be his primary tool for exploring and make use of the environment. It is also a basic sensory organ that in many circumstances exceeds even the eye in collecting information. The hand as a part of the body may be affected by a variety of pathological conditions where tumors are one of them. Primary bone tumors of the hand and wrist are unusual, but if present are frequently chondrogenic in origin. Cartilagenous tumors of the hand are usually detected early because of pain, • impairment of function or obvious swelling. Man is fortunate because of the malignant growth of cartilagenous tumors of the hand are often preceded by benign lesion that are well known precursors of the cancer. For its diagnosis we can use plain x-ray with its characteristic radiological features ' in some cases; but Magnetic resonance imaging (M.R.I) is helpful to differentiate between benign and malignant cartilagenous tumors of the hand. Metastases to the hand are rare and representing about 0-3% of all metastatic lesions and may appear before symptoms of the primary lesion are present they occur in the phalanges and metacarpals with equal frequency but are more common at terminal phalanx, Metastatic tumors especially from the lung are recorded in the hand especially cartilages, bones,........ Chondroma (including enchondroma and periosteal enchodroma are the commonest tumors of the hand.