ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Hydatid disease in humans caused by the parasitic tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus has an osseous involvement of about 0.5%-2.5% of all cases in humans. The location of hydatid cysts in the tibia is seldom described in the medical literature, and its diagnosis and treatment is challenging. CASE REPORT: This paper presents a patient, with a long term, well tolerated, bilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA), treated at our clinic, with a recent history of pain and oedema in her left upper leg. After achieving a, radiologically and histhopathologically, well documented, diagnosis of Echinoccocosis lesion in her left proximal tibia, a surgical intervention was planed, a wide resection of the cyst performed, and a specific anti-helmintic therapy was instituted. Four years later, she returns to our observation complaining of pain and unable to bear weight on her left knee, from which a pathologic fracture, adjacent to the tibial component, was diagnosed. After surgical debridement of the newly advanced hydatid cyst growth, the TKA was revised, and due to the tibial component failure and the femoral implant loosening, a semi-constrained total knee revision arthroplasty was executed. Functional outcome was excellent. CONCLUSION: Although challenges in treatment of musculoskeletal hydatid cysts (HC) lesions have been documented, data regarding the musculoskeletal HC lesions resembling tumor is scarce, and those resulting in a prosthetic failure have not been published. The authors intend to add data concerning the therapeutic approach to this entity.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Schwannomas are benign, encapsulated, slow-growing and usually solitary tumors originating from Schwann cells of the peripheral nerve sheath. Schwannomas of the superficial peroneal nerves are very rare, and therefore scarcely documented in the literature. The authors report a case of a diagnosed superficial fibular nerve sheath tumor with an unreported clinical presentation. PRESENTATION OF CASE: A 52-year-old Caucasian female arrived to our Orthopedics Department complaining of pain and numbness of the lateral aspect of her left leg. These symptoms were present for a year and were more evident at the end of the day, or after a long time in the orthostatic position. No evidence of other medical illnesses was found. There was no record of prior traumatic events related to that limb. Diagnosis of a benign peripheral nerve tumor was achieved and the patient was treated by surgical excision of the lesion. DISCUSSION: The intermittent symptomatology presentation on this case suggest a mechanical compression etiology, allied to classical pain and paresthesia often exhibited by this kind of the tumor. An intracompartimental pressure elevation could explain why the symptoms disclosed an episodic pattern, due to a constricted, inclosed nerve. CONCLUSION: We describe a rare case of a patient with an unusual superficial peroneal nerve Schwannoma clinical presentation. Literature on this topic is scarce and, therefore, this case report intends to add further data about this kind of lesion.
