Further observations on 'corticalisosteoide' or 'osteoid osteoma'.

Abstract

In 1930 BERGSTRAND described in this journal two cases of ‘osteoblastic’ disease situated in a metatarsal bone and the first phalanx of a digit, respectively. In the first case the bone and in the second the whole finger were removed because malignancy was suspected. In 1935 JAFFE described 5 cases of a similar pathologic process, mainly situated in short spongy bones. He interpreted this process as some kind of tumor growth. In 1940 JAFFE and LICHTENSTEIN published 28 further cases, several of which with involvement of the long bones. Through JAFFE’S investigation the disease became widely known in the United States under the name of ‘osteoid osteoma’. The characteristics of the disease were also clarified in many respects by this study. Due to interrupted communications during the war I did not know of this latter work when in 1941 I presented a personal series of 8 cases, 6 of which were localized to the diaphyses of the long bones, of a similar appearance. It seemed that these probably belonged to the same group of diseases as those with lesions in short spongy bones, described by JAFFE in 1940. As it was obvious that the question of a neoplasm did not arise, the term ‘osteoma’ seemed misleading, and I suggested in my article published in German the term ‘corticalisosteoide’ as being a more appropriate designation for this type of process. However, the name ‘osteoid osteoma’ has now been generally accepted in the U. S. A. Since that time numerous cases have been reported from the United States (especially by JAFFE, 1945) but only a few cases from Europe. An interesting review of the literature by SHERMAN, 1947 (with an exhaustive bibliography), added 30 new cases to the previous number of 128 which has now been supplemented with further cases. Over and above the 8 cases which I previously reported, there seems to be only one other ~~- Submitted for publication, Febr. 22, 1952.