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. 2024 Jan;53(1):59-66.
doi: 10.1007/s00256-023-04375-8. Epub 2023 Jun 3.

Prevalence and characteristics of benign cartilaginous tumours of the shoulder joint. An MRI-based study

Johannes Nikolaus Woltsche  1 , Maria Smolle  2 , Dieter Szolar  3 , Marko Bergovec  1 , Andreas Leithner  1
Affiliations

Prevalence and characteristics of benign cartilaginous tumours of the shoulder joint. An MRI-based study

Johannes Nikolaus Woltsche et al. Skeletal Radiol. 2024 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: Enchondromas (EC) of the shoulder joint are benign intraosseous cartilage neoplasms, with atypical cartilaginous tumours (ACT) representing their intermediate counterpart. They are usually found incidentally on clinical imaging performed for other reasons. Thus far the prevalence of ECs of the shoulder has been analysed in only one study reaching a figure of 2.1%.

Materials and methods: The aim of the current study was to validate this number via retrospective analysis of a 45 times larger, uniform cohort consisting of 21.550 patients who had received an MRI of the shoulder at a single radiologic centre over a time span of 13.2 years.

Results: Ninety-three of 21.550 patients presented with at least one cartilaginous tumour. Four patients showed two lesions at the same time resulting in a total number of 97 cartilage tumours (89 ECs [91.8%], 8 ACTs [8.2%]). Based on the 93 patients, the overall prevalence was 0.39% for ECs and 0.04% for ACTs. Mean size of the 97 ECs/ACTs was 2.3 ± 1.5 cm; most neoplasms were located in the proximal humerus (96.9%), in the metaphysis (60.8%) and peripherally (56.7%). Of all lesions, 94 tumours (96.9%) were located in the humerus and 3 (3.1%) in the scapula.

Conclusion: Frequency of EC/ACT of the shoulder joint appears to have been overestimated, with the current study revealing a prevalence of 0.43%.

Keywords: ACT; Enchondroma; MRI; Prevalence; Shoulder.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart representing the filtering of patients with a cartilaginous tumour
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Yearly prevalence of benign cartilaginous lesions (EC + ACT), ECs and ACTs separately, as well as number of MRI scans of the shoulder joint performed
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
MRI scan of an ACT (maximal diameter of 5.2 cm; deep endosteal scalloping; medullary oedema) of the left humerus: A proton density, blade with fat suppression, coronal; B proton density + t2, fat suppression, dixon turbo spin echo, sagittal; C proton density, blade with fat suppression, transversal; D t1, coronal, turbo spin echo. The arrows point at endosteal scalloping, whereas the asterisk highlights medullary edema
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
MRI scan of an enchondroma of the right humerus: A proton density, blade with fat suppression, coronal; B proton density + t2, sagittal; C proton density, blade with fat suppression, transversal; D t1, coronal, spin echo
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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