Mucinous Adenocarcinoma Arising Primarily on the Thumb: Case Report

Abstract

Malignant tumors arising from the thumb are very rare, and even adenocarcinomas are less common. As we know, adenocarcinomas mostly arise in glandular tissues or in the gastrointestinal tract. The tumor usually presents as a painless, growing, bulging mass, so it is likely to be ignored as a benign lesion, such as a lipoma, ganglion cyst or giant cell tumor, or an infection such as a paronychia or pyogenic granuloma. Frozen sections of biopsy specimens are essential for marginal control if there is a possibility of malignancy. Wide excision with a cuff of normal tissue or even amputation followed by three-dimensional histological reconstruction of the defect is the mainstay of treatment. The prognosis depends on many factors, including the tumor size, the number of mitosis and level of differentiation histologically, the depth of penetration of the lesion, and the presence of regional adenopathy, or distant metastases at the time of diagnosis. A case of a 63-year-old woman with a mucinous adenocarcinoma over her right thumb is presented, with the clinical characteristics and the treatment course, to arouse the alert suspicion to make a correct diagnosis for the hand tumors.