title: Myositis ossificans occupying the thenar region: a case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Myositis ossificans is a benign, self-limiting, tumor-like lesion that usually affects the elbow and thigh; occurrence in the hand is uncommon. We report a rare case of a patient with myositis ossificans in the thenar region.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 15-year-old Japanese girl presented to our hospital with a 2-month history of a painful mass in the right thenar region without previous trauma. The clinical and radiological examination findings suggested an osteoblastic malignancy. A diagnosis of myositis ossificans was made on the basis of an incisional biopsy. Despite the location of the lesion in the thenar region, a normal functional outcome was achieved after marginal resection of the mature lesion.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinicians should consider myositis ossificans as a possible diagnosis for a soft tissue mass in the hand, thereby avoiding unnecessarily aggressive therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shinshu-Ueda Medical Center, 1-27-21 Midorigaoka, Ueda, Nagano, 386-8610, Japan. t.akahane@nagano-hosp.go.jp.
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akahane
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shinshu-Ueda Medical Center, 1-27-21 Midorigaoka, Ueda, Nagano, 386-8610, Japan. n.mori@nagano-hosp.go.jp.
authors.forename: Naoya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Marunouchi Hospital, 1-7-45 Nagisa, Matsumoto, Nagano, 390-8601, Japan. ynakatch@jeans.ocn.ne.jp.
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakatsuchi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001706:Biopsy; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D009221:Myositis Ossificans / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D011859:Radiography