Adamantinoma of the calcaneum--a case report

Abstract

Adamantinoma is rare, representing less than 1% of all primary malignant bone tumours. It is a slow growing low grade malignant tumour which is often clinically, radiologically and histologically mistaken for many other tumours like Ewing's sarcoma, synovial sarcoma, fibrosarcoma, metastatic carcinoma, fibrous cortical defect and osteofibrous dysplasia. Adamantinoma commonly occurs in the tibia. It is also known to occur in the fibula, femur, humerus, radius and ulna. Adamantinoma of the foot is extremely rare. There are few reported cases of metatarsal and cuneiform bone involvement. To our knowledge adamantinoma of the calcaneum has not been previously reported in the literature. We report the case of a male patient, aged 33 years, who was treated for adamantinoma of the calcaneum and followed for 16 years highlighting the difficulty in diagnosis and management of this rare tumor occurring at a rare site.