title: [Benign cartilage tumors. What should I do with incidental findings?].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The majority of benign bone tumors are cartilage tumors. Most common are enchondroma and osteochondroma. Often they represent incidental findings in radiological diagnostics. Thus, the incidence of cartilage tumors is unknown, as most of them are never diagnosed due to the absence of any symptoms.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This article describes the diagnostic and therapeutic approach of benign cartilage tumors, focusing on incidental findings.
  
  
  METHODS
  The current knowledge and our own experience in the diagnostics and treatment of benign condroid tumors are presented.
  
  
  RESULTS
  As enchondroma represent most often the classic incidental finding without any symptoms or clinical findings, osteochondroma are often diagnosed in young patients by clinical examination showing a painless swelling that can increase in size according to skeletal growth. Most of these asymptomatic enchondroma and osteochondroma are so called "leave me alone lesions" and do not need any treatment, while other benign tumors (e.g., atypical cartilage tumors, chondroblastoma, chondromyxoidfibroma or osteochondroma with a cartilage cap of over 2 cm) need surgical treatment. These active or local aggressive tumors must be differentiated from the "leave me alone lesions". Additionally, patients with syndromes like Ollier disease (enchondromatosis), Maffucci syndrome or hereditary multiple exostosis must be examined and checked carefully as malignant degradation is possible.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As most cartilage tumors are benign and remain benign, inappropriate diagnostics or operative treatment just to provide security is obsolete. Plain X-ray is often enough for follow-up and other modalities only become necessary when symptoms occur.
authors.affiliation: Klinik und Poliklinik für Allgemeine Orthopädie und Tumororthopädie, Universitätsklinikum Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, 48149, Münster, Deutschland, Markus.Nottrott@ukmuenster.de.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nottrott
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hardes
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gosheger
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Andreou
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Henrichs
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Streitbuerger
mesh_terms: D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*; D002812:Chondroma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D033162:Incidental Findings; D015831:Osteochondroma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*; D010027:Osteotomy / Q000379:methods*