Exostosis and subungual osteochondroma. Clinical, epidemiological and histological characteristics in Mexican patients [Osteocondroma y exostosis subungueal. Características clínicoepidemiológicas e histológicas en pacientes mexicanos]

Background: Osteocartilaginous' tumors -exostosis and subungual osteochondroma- are benign and rare tumors, which are more frequent in women in the second and third decades of life. Objective: To evaluate the clinical, epidemiological and histological subungual tumors of osteocartilaginous origin at Dermatological Institute of Jalisco Dr. Jose Barba Rubio, Jalisco, Mexico. Material and methods: We performed a retrospective study from January 1st, 1987 to December 31st, 2001, which included reports of patients with subungual osteocartilaginous tumor, exostosis or osteocondroma. We collected the following variables: frequency, age, gender, location and presence of hyaline cartilage and/or fibrocartilage attached to bone. Results: There were 199 cases of subungual osteocartilaginous tumors; 139 of them were women (70%), 58 were men (29%) and 2 were undetermined (1%). The average age of patients was 19 ± 14 years old, predominantly between 10 and 19 years of age (59%). The condition was frequent in the first finger of the foot, with 71%. Fibrocartilage was observed in 98%, in 18% was exclusive and only 2% of the cases showed pure hyaline cartilage. In all cases the range of evolution time was from three weeks to six months. Conclusion: Osteocartilaginous tumors are uncommon, most lesions showed both cartilages in different proportions